
CIass_f 
Book 



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nsaasicT 



ifiswKa ttix 



NEW FORM OF GOVERNMENT,. 



THE ADMINISTRATION VINDICATED. 



THE S4,000,000 LOAN 



DEMANDED BY THE HIGHEST INTERESTS Of THE PE0PLB. 



SPEECH BY HON. N. P. CHIPMAN. 



WASHINGTON CITY: 
McGILL & WITHEEOW, PEINTHBS. 
187 L ) 



MfL 









SPEECH 



Delivered ai the Republican Mass Meeting in the Fourteenth District, held to ratify the 
■notaination of Son. Peter Campbell, candidate for House of Delegates. 



MY'PlUBKDa: ' 

We havo had here in the District of Columbia many very exciting political contests, and 
many that were of great moment to our people; and while this is not, and will not be, 
am "exerting contest, there has, perhaps, never been one fraught with such momentous 
interest to the present and future welfare of the District of Columbia. Its importance 
io not derived from any political questions at issue, nor can it be said to be in any sense' 
wholly national, but it lies in the fact that we are just emerging into the- enjoyment of the 
new form of government for the people, which, with but few exceptions, was regarded, 
when given us by Congress, as possessing great promise in our future development. You 
do not need ta.be reminded of the practical workings of our former municipal government', 
and yet you l?vft' pardon me a word in regard to it. 

TEE OI.T> FORM OP GOVERNMENT NOTICED. 

This District of Columbia was ceded net to the people cf the District, but to the United' 
States, with a view of becoming a permanent seat of government. It was regarded at the 
time as settling what had hitherto been a disturbing source of sectional bitterness and party 
strife, and took our capital off from wheels upon which it rested, and gave it fixed and 
permanent foundations. No one, looking back over the experience of our local govern- 
ment, can doubt now irt was a grave and serious error to give to various portions of the 
District distinct forms of government. If some of the wise men of those times could have fore- 
seen, with that prescience which guided them in many other questions regarding our national 
prosperity, what the National Capital ought to be, and what, doubtless, must havo been ' 
vaguely contemplated in the cession of the Ten Miles Square for the purpose of a capital, 
wc would to-day be where we hope, under honest and progressive management of our 
affairs, to be at the end of twenty-live years. 

The District of Columbia ought to have been improved as the Nation's Capital from the 
first as it is proposed to improve it now — that is, ai a unit. Situated more beautifully, per- 
haps, than, I may say, any other space of ground of the same dimensions, and better 
adapted to .the residence of a great capital than any other portion of our Union, it ou»ht to 
have been improved at the beginning with reference to the great future of this country, of 
which we now only begin to catch glimpses. 

If this territory, ceded for the purpose of a capital, had been improved as a unit, and ■ 
with reference to the future; if the expenditure of public moneys within this District. 
both by the general and local government, had been with reference to a general pic v. ! 
comprehending the improvement of the whole District; if there had been such harm 
nidus relations existing between our. local government and our National Government 
would have secured a hearty co-operation in the execution of this plan; if this unity V' 
design had been faithfully carried out, both by the national and local government, thi> 
National Capital would to-day present at once one of the most beautiful and comely cities i ■ 
look upon, one of the most delightful as a residence, and one of the most prosperous L ; 
all of its inhabitants, which could be pointed out on the surface of this globe. 'From tb 
very beginning, however, this chosen spot was fatally divided against itself, and fatally ' 
divorced from its parent and natural protector — the General Government. 

Washington city, as a corporation, was given a sort of hybrid form of government, with ' 
something cf control over its internal affairs, and yet with sufficient reserved to the General 
Government in the management of its details to utterly emasculate it and destroy its po\veri 
However much it might desire to extend the plan of improvement to the beautiful surround- 
ing amphitheatrical hills, it could not stretch its arm beyond the limits of your Boundary 
street; however much it might desire to join hands with that picturesquely located city, . 
Georgetown, there was no provision by which the two cities could co-operate in any plan 
of improvements, and they have consequently remained to this day almost as distinct from 
each other as Alexandria and Washington; while all these charming and delightful <vab-' 






/! 



I 



affean surroundings, west, north, and east, have remained an imponotrable forest and gloomy 
unattractive -woods, almost valueless, either as residences or for agricultural purposes I 
can find no traces anywhere, in examining the local administrations of theso various govern- 
ments for the District of Columbia, the national feeling, the national pride, and the outlook 
into the great future of this Capital, which ought to have manifested itself. The members 
of that ancient and honorable body, the Levy Court, doubtless managed the small interests 
ta their hands with as much frugality and care as the trustees of almost any township yon 
may mention in any State. Gentlemen of the Common Council and Board of Aldermen 
for Georgetown looked faithfully to the good order and welfaro of their people; while the 
City Fathers of Washington, in general, gavo us a good local government, and took, perhape,- 
reasonably good care of the interests of our people. But I suppose no one will claim for 
thoso honorable gentlemen, whoso names are linked with the history of our past, that they 
evor dreamed of legislating for the welfare of these United States, or stopped to think that 
••heir administration had some direct connection with the American Union. 

Then, too, this form of government tended necessarily to the alienation of Congress, and 
in that the alienation of the people of the States. It was not possible under that regimo 
to make more than one out of twenty-five members of Congress feel the slightest pride in 
the development of our National Capital, nor could we expect it, for we had ourselves bet 
little of that feeling. 

This old system tended to lower the standard of government here, tended to narrow tho 
minds cf our people, tended to destroy all feeling that we formed a part of this great Union, 
tended even to destroy our own manhood, insomuch that it came to bo admitted as a fact, 
that wc were no longer citizens of a great nation, but stood in the relation of political 
eunuchs to the Government. Such condition of things in the march of events could not 
last: either the District of Columbia must cease to be the Capital of the Nation, or it must 
throw off this shirt of Nessus, and make itself part of the Nation, and compol the nation t« 
acknowledge its child. 

I am, sir, one of those who regard this District of Columbia as belonging in common to 
tho whole people of the United States, and that we are, in the management of our local 
affairs, to a certain extent, the trustees of the people of the United States. Wo are not 
here simply to pursue .our own business and pleasure; we are not to make this solely a 
place of barter and sale ; but wc are, sir, to make this capital city exemplify tho civilization 
of our country. We are to make of it an exponent of American character ; we are to become 
.1 place of pleasure and resort for all our fellow -citizens who may seek to visit their capital ; 
\vt are to send them home feeling that they have a personal interest in our welfare, and 
fcoft'f; the money of the General Government, expended within the District of Columbia, is in 
pari for them, and not wholly for our own personal advantage; and we aro to illustrate 
to uiose who visit us from foreign lands something of the power, wealth, intelligence, 
• "iirement, and the business capability of our people. All these results, my fellow-citizens, 
arc probable under the new, but were not possible under the old, system of government. 

1 believe, sir, I can safely assert, that there has been more public 6pint of a broad and 
liberal character, more national pride, and more hope for the future enkindled in the hearts 
not only of our own citizens, but of those elsewhere throughout the country, since Congress 
gave to us a territorial form of government, than during the whole period of our history 
previously. I believe, sir, that more good peoplo have determined, within the last nine 
months, to make Washington a permanent residence, than ever entertained that idea in 
any ten years that may be mentioned. This great change, which is almost a revolution, ib 
significant, and should be studied in no sectional or partisan view, and should be seized 
upon by us all as the harbinger of a new era to this Capital. 

PBESENT ISSUED. 

.1 have taken this retrospect, Mr. Chairman, I have looked about me in. tho presont, and 
glanced towards the future, to lead your minds to a consideration of the chiof question 
involved in this campaign, the affirmative decision of which I cannot help but believe t» 
be the pivotal point in the career of this District: I refer, sir, to the indorsement by the 
people of the four- million loan. 

It is tho Gettysburg of our struggle for the permanent seat of government and the future 
grcatn' ;s of the Capital. If wc lose this battle, I see only chaos ; if we win it, success upon 

SUCCCS:-. 

Now, my friends, it does uot surprise me that so radical a change of governmon 1 
been wrought in our organic act, from that to which our people have become accustomed 
by the usage of years, should arouse feelings of opposition, especially when there are so 
Jilftny amorigst us who have lived here for a quarter or half a century, and do uot care 



now to be disturbed from that peaceful repose from which they have been aroused by tho 
piercing cry of Young America, harnessed to the car of progress ; nor am I surprised that 
these persons and many very good citizens should feel a disposition to make has to slowly; 
and yet I cannot help but feel their apprehensions rest upon some indefinable objection, 
or personal grounds, or political hostility, rather than upon any conviction that the officers 
managing our local government are either dishonest or incompetent, er that '.ho plan 
which they have proprosed for present improvements is unwise or seriously defective. 
While I cannot hope, Mr. Chairman, to follow in detail the many things which have been 
suggested by the opposition to this measure, because I believe much of this objection is the 
offshoot either of political opposition to the present administration, or of personal pique, or 
personal resentment, or a chronic disposition to carp at and find fault with whatever the 
complainant does not himself take part in, still, therejare certain salient points of objec 
tion, there are certain facts connected with the proposed improvements, there is a genera) 
line of policy proposed to bo carried out by this administration, concerning which all Un- 
people have an interest, and in explanation of which all are entitled to be put in posses- 
sion of the truth. 

THE CHIEF OBJECTION NOTICED. 

First, then, Mr. Chairman, let me address myself to what I conceive tp be the chief ob- 
jection made by the class of persons to whom I have alluded, and it is an objection v/hkb 
comes from those who favor the expenditure of $4,000,000 for improvements, and, those 
who oppose the expenditure of so large a sum. That objection is this, that the proposed 
measure furnishes no guarantee for a faithful and honest disbursement of the money. 

What, sir, aro the provisions of that act? Let me summarize them. The first section 
provides, in order that special improvements and repairs of the streets, avenues, alleys, 
and roads of the District of Columbia may be commenced and completed, severs and 
bridges be constructed thereiD, and other necessary public works be executed, the Governor 
of said District is authorized and empowered to issue registered or coupon bonds to the 
amount of $4,000,000, at the rate of seven per cent, annually, payable within twenty 
years from the date of their issue. 

The second section provides for the levying of a special tax for a period of twenty s ears, 
m amount sufficient to pay the interest, and to be collected in sums of $280,000 in each 
year. 

Section three provides that the Governor, with the Secretary and Comptroller, sia, - pie 
pare the bonds for issue and sale, which shall be signed by the Governor and counter- 
signed by the Secretary and Comptroller, and have the seal of the District affixed. 

Section four provides that these bonds, until required for issue, shall be deposited with 
the Comptroller of the District, who shall not permit any one or more of them to go out 
of his possession, and shall give such security for thei.v safekeeping as may be required 
by the Governor ; shall keep a register of all bonds which may be issued ; and make a fall 
report, from time to time, to the Legislative Assembly of- the amount of sales. 

Section fifth provides that two and one half millions of bonds may be prepar ■,< 

during the year 1872, and one and a half million during the year 1873. 

Section six provides that the proceeds shall he deposited in the treasury of the Dis- 
trict, and shall be drawn out upon warrants of the Board of Public Works, and shnll be 
disbursed by said Board for the payment of cost of special improvements and repairs in 
the said District, including the necessary incidental expenses thereof, and for no 
purposes. This section also provides for the retention by the Board of ten pel ceuti tr» of 
the payments to be made for improvements until the final settlement. 

Section seven provides, that the improvements shall be commenced and carried on it. 
accordance with our organic act, and exclusively for the promotion of the public inte; sts. 

Section eight provides, that if any officer or employee of the District shall use, oi >;on 
sent to the use of, any of the money authorized to be raised bj* this act, contrary to its 
provisions, he shall be liable to criminal proceedings in the District courts, and punished 
by fine and imprisonment in the jail of the District for the term of not less than three 
nor more than twelve months. The remaining portion of the act relates to its submission 
to the people for ratification. 

As I understand the objection which I am now considering, it is, first, because the Board 
of Public Works are unrestrained as to the plan of improvements to be carried out by 
them; and, second, tliat they give no bond for the faithful disbursement of the funds in 
their hands — or, to put these two branches of the objection in one, and to express it as 
you hear it, expressed up»on the streets, the objection is, that we are to give thi3 Board ef 
Public Works $4,000,000 to use as they please. 




A. word now, Mr. Chairman, with regard to there being no plan submitted fo tho people 
to be voted upon in connection with this act. Any plan which would bo submitted in 
connection with this act for the approval of the people, to be any hotter than the act 
itself, must be definite in all particulars. It must proscribe definitely the streets, avec 
ties, alleys, and roads which are to be prepared or improved; the 6ewers and bridges 
which are to be constructed; together with the detailed plans of construction or repair, 
and this particularity must extend even to the specifications in those plans, or the system 
would be defective. For it must be perceived, that if you say the Board of Public Works 
Shall construct a sewer along a particular street or avenue, and do not prescribe the man- 
ner in which it is to be constructed, you leave as dangerous discretion with them almost 
as to allow them to locate the sewer themselves, and the same is true of any other im- 
provement that might be suggested. Again, it would be almost impossible to prepare a 
detailed plan of improvements for the District of Columbia, which should bo carried out 
without variation; and, if apian were submitted to the people and voted upon, the Board 
would possess no power to make any changes however important theso changes might 
Afterwards seem to be. 

But suppose it possible to prepare such a plan, can you conceive it to be possible that 
the masses of our people, who vote upon this proposition, would be able to inform them- 
selves -as to its merits within any reasonable time. Perhaps not one in ten of our best- 
informed citizens have the technical knowledge which would enable thorn to judge c-f the 
details entering into any general plan. I doubt very much whether one in ten of the 
voters in this District have carefully read the act in question, brief as it now is: how many 
of them, then, would read and study it with sufficient care to understand the very elaborate 
and lengthy plans and details which our opponents insist should be affixed to the act. The 
main facts the people understand perfectly well. These are, that we propose to raise 
$4,000,000, with which to commence a system of improvements in this District; that wc 
propose to pay for these improvements by issuing four millions of bonds, payable in twenty 
years, and that the interest amounts to a particular sum ; and that a certain sum is to be also 
raised as a sinking fund, with which to pay ultimately the principal of the bonds; and 
that the Board of Public Works, composed of the Governor and four associates, aro to 
manage the disbursement of the fund and the improvements to be made. The people have 
made up their minds to sustain the loan on this information, and have faith in our officers 
to properly disburse it. 

Without noticing further this branch of the objection, let me, say a word as to the second , 
that is, that there is no restraint upon the Board of Public Works in the disbursement of 
this fund. Some say that the Board should be bonded, should give a bond of sufficient 
security for the repayment to the District of such funds as they may improperly disburse. 
Lot us look at that. How would a bond given by the members of this Board secure the 
people further than the act now secures them? Any one familiar with tho form of such 
bonds will tell you, that the condition is the faithful performance of the trust undertaken by 
the principal of the bond. In this case the bonds would run with the condition, that A. B., 
a member of the said Board of Public Works, shall faithfully discharge the duties pertaining 
to his said office, and in default thereof shall pay, &c. Don't you perceive that, in thai 
case, the same discretion remains still with the members of the Board of Public Works, to 
act according to their best judgment iu the discharge of their official functions? And do 
you not perceive an honest, though mistaken, exercise of that discretion would n<jt render 
"them liable upon their bond in damages; but that it is only where there is eoino criminal 
conduct on their part, some embezzlement of funds, or such gross negligence in the man 
agement of their duties as would raise the presumption of fraud, that tho bond would be 
of any value? It would seem to me that the objectors upon this ground forget entirely 
tho course of legislation, both in Congress and in tho Legislatures, of the States. Nothing 
is better known here in this community than that the Secretary of War, for example, 
draws warrants upon the Treasury for hundreds of millions of dollars, yet he gives no 
bonds. 

The whole disbursements of this Government are drawn out of the Treasury upou war- 
rants signed by heads of departments, not one of whom gives a bond. The custodian of 
tho funds of the Government is a bonded officer. And so is the custodian of our funds, 
the Comptroller and the Treasurer of tho Board; and he pays no money except upon war- 
rant countersigned by the Auditor. But, admitting that the Board of Public Works may 
draw out money in bulk, and disburse it as they choose, still a bond given bv tho Board 
would, as I have already explained, cover only such cases as would amount practically to 
embezzlement of the public funds. 

This brings us, then, to confront squarely the question, whether we believo U»o members 
of that Board are thieves- for I can conceive no difference between tho crime of larceny 









■.••■ d . i :ui in such case as this. A man who wculd umbeizle ani appropriate to 

>wb use a trust fund, is worse even than a common thief. 
What are the probabilities? In the first place, the gentlemen composing that Board are 
citizen3 whose whole pecuniary interest is in this District. Some of them, by careful busi- 
uess management, have amassed private fortunes ; one of them, at least, has a character and 
credit throughout the civilized world, the integrity of which is worth to him more than 
ten times four millions of dollars. It is above price. Not one of them, I believe, has the 
remotest anticipation of laying his bones elsewhere than in this District of Columbia. 
Your future is their future; and, sir, I cannot conceive it possible that these men dan 
ally write across their foreheads the word thief, and become- tho objects of scorn and 
contempt of all honest men. But there is great improbability of this, for tho further rea- 
son, that to be successful in any scheme for plunder, these five members of the Board of 
Public Works must not only conspire with each other, but they must also conspire with 
public contractors. And, sir, with the watchful eyes of this community upon them, such 
a conspiracy could not exist six months without its being manifest to all intelligent men. 
in that case, you know that the President of the United States, who appoints them to 
office, would remove them instantly. The fatal defect, which cost New York city so fear- 
ful a sum of money in its board of public officers, lay in the fact that they had so possessed 
ihemselvcs of power .as to perpetuate their own official existence, and thero was absolutely 
qo remedy whatever, but such an uprising of the people as we have recently witnessed. 
But we not only have the security which lies in the power to instantly remove the Board 
of Public Works from office through the President, but the act itself provides the punish- 
ment of any officer or employee of the District who shall use or consent to the use of any 
of the money authorized to bo raised by the act contrary to its provision. But, sir, I feel 
I need not say more upon this point. There must bo responsibility somewhere ; and, gen • 
erally speaking, among men of probity of character, which I believe the gentlemen of this 
Board to possess, penal bonds are not half so good a security as the honor upon which such 
men act. It is a delicate thing for me to mention, in this connection, any one member of 
/our Board of Public Works, or to mention any one individual among those who are 
opposing the loan ; and yet I feel that the gravity of this question, and the seriousness 
of the objection now being considered, which has been made in this community, will 
-.-.-ant me in departing from the wise rule in regard to personalities. I shall npfc dis- 
guise in this discussion, what we all know to be true, that Mr. Alexander R. Shepherd, 
a member of that Board, has been attacked, in his personal and business integrity, to 
egree that is almost fiendish, I do not believe that any considerable number of 
• fellow-citizens credit these aspersions upon his character, and yet they may have 
affected the minds of some. You and I have our own private opinion in regard to this 
matter; but I feel compelled to put upon the witness stand a gentleman who earnestly and 
rely opposes this loan, who differs widely and radically in politics with us and with 
Shepherd, but who has known him since childhood in this commuity, and has been 
i.-.?ociated with him in the closest business relations, where- he had the means of knowing 
the most secret motives which governed the business habits and management of Mr. Shep- 
herd, and the mention of whoso name anywhere in this District is the synonym of honesty 
uid probity of character. This witness is Dr. John B. Blake, a man. whom I honor and 
ect for his personal character — a man whom I may almost say I lovo for his personal 
qualities ; this man I heard remark recently, in a public manner, that whatever else may 
said of him, he would allow no man to question in his presence tho personal honesty 
.'ii-iness integrity of A. R. Shopherd. My friend Dr. Blake may not thank mo for 
statement, and Mr. Shepherd may be offended at it; but I feel, in view of all the facts, 
trained to make it, trusting that my motive in doing eo will shield me from their 

DISIH 

■ has been a certain sort of unfairness and disingenuousness connected with tho op- 
tion made to this loan, or rather to the Board of Public Works, which is almost in 
credible. 

There never has been any fair criticism upon its plans; but the whole opposition has 
been so bitter, that it. would hardly seem to deserve candid treatment Long before the 
.rd came into possession of a cent of money, long before they had commenced operations, 
or had announced their plana or purposes, tho chief movers in this opposition were seek- 
ing by every means to poison the minds of tho community against the officers composing 
our District Government, and had oven thus, early begun to more than hint of a lack of 
personal integrity. Certainly this is nottha treatment they deserved,, and this fact should 



8 

lead all impartial minds to hesitate before following such dangerous lead. At this very time, 
while these slanderous insinuations were being thrown out in the community, the Board 
of Public Works, instead of organizing a close corporation or perfecting a conspiracy 
against the welfare of the District, invited an advisory board, to act with them, composed 
oFhigh military and civil officers of the Government. 

This board were Quartermaster General Meigs, Major General Humphreys, Chief of En- 
gineers, Surgeon General Barnes, General Babcock, Superintendent of Public Buildings 
and Grounds ; Mr Olmstead, of New York city ; and these gentlemen met with the Board 
of Public Works, and discussed, and I believe approved, with some modifications which 
were adopted, the plans of improvements, so far as were immediately contemplated. The 
Board also employed an Engineer, of great attainments in his profession, who had been 
connected with the public works of other cities, who could bring large experience to bear 
upon the rude condition in which our District is, and who could have no local feeling to 
subserve, and who could be charged with having no personal motives to gratify. The 
Board also called into their council Mr. Wm. Saunders, the Botanical Gardener of the Agri- 
cultural Department, a man of learning, and an author, and who takes a great pride in the 
future development of the District. It would seem to me these steps are utterly inconsistent 
with any purpose to combine against the interests of the people. 

■ Then, too, the Board organized its office, and not only preserved the records of all its 
proceedings, but there has been no improvement undertaken of consequence which has 
not been published officially by the Board, and its proceedings from day to day have been 
presented through the daily press. 

I eay that no unprejudiced man, who simply cares to see our improvements r re- 
gress under an honest management, can reflect upon these facts, without concluding, as I 
have concluded, that until we have some evidence of dishonest management, we may feel 
perfectly secure in the hands of this Board. Certainly those who have contented them- 
selves with the form of government which obtained heretofore, and where all this vast 
power, of which the people are so jealous, was in the hands of one man, who performed 
his functions under no restraint whatever, ought not now to feel very solicitous with the 
guarantees which our present system furnishes. 

,V MPETBSfCT OK THF, BOARD OF PUBLIC WOEKii. 

A word now in regard to incompetency. Men tell me they have perfect faith in the 
Board of Public Works, they believe them to be honorable and honest gentlemen; but 
they ask, what fitness have ihey for the peculiar duties devolved upon them? As to that, 
sir, I can only say, if there is not ability enough in the Board of Public Works, as at pres- 
ent constituted, to execute the present plan of improvements — improvements all must 
admit are necessary — then I do not believe that five men could be found in the Distrid 
©f Columbia who would accept the position, and who do possess the requisite ability. 

I do not claim for these gentlemen any extraordinary genius for the work they have in 
hand; but I do say, taken all in all, the Board could not bo substituted with five better 
men. I believe it is generally admitted that the management, under the Board, is such 
a vast improvement upon any system of management which wo hitherto possessed, that 
I believe all must' admit it to be a great gain. I will not stop to point out in detail 
these differences of management, but let me call your attention to a few facts: The wood 
pavement on Pennsylvania avenue, laid under the administration of Mayor Emery, cott 
$4 00 per square; the wood pavement being laid on Fourteenth street, tinder, a contract 
formerly made, costs $3 TO per square; for wooden pavement the Board of Public W< ks 
pay $3 00 per square — a saving of about 2.3 per cent. The pavement laid upon the av> i ■••- 
in front of the Arlington cost $4 00 per square ; the same is now being laid on Pennsylvania 
avenue for $3 20. Let me mention a fact right here which is highly honorable to the Boai ■ I 
of Public Works, and speaks much for their integrity, as well as for their business manage- 
ment. This asphaltum pavement certain prominent gentlemen, now opposing the loan, 
petitioned to be laid around La Fayette square, at $3 50 a square, and requested thai the 
contract be given to the gentlemen who now have it, and to whom the Board contracted 
to lay the pavement at $3 20 per yard. Here were gentlemen of high character, Mr. Cor- 
coran and Mr. Biggs among them — whom I mention to prove the truth of my statement — 
petitioning that a particular contractor should be allowed to lay a particular pavemec. at 
§3 50 per square. The Board could have adopted that price, and have felt themselves pro- 
tected by the responsible names attached to the petition; and yet we- have, by their econo- 
my and integrity, a saving of thirty cents a square over the price petitioned for, and eighty 
cents a square over the price paid for the Eame pavement laid a year ago_ in front of the 
Arlington Further, we are now saving from 25 to 40 per cent, in cost o( curbing; froln 



9 

15 to 2i> p*;r tent, m cost of foot pavement. Indeed, there is, I believe, uo item of e^pest*) 
of consequence in which the saving is not about the same and" in character of work as 
much cr more. 

Another fact yon will observe by the published plan, and it ia being closely carried out, 
Kofar as work now being done is concerned, that it contemplates improvements where they 
will benefit the greatest number, and they are so connected, that all parts of the city are 
brought in communication with each other by well-paved streets. These streets are selected 
with reference to the accommodation of those who live in the outer portions of the city with, 
the central and business part of it. 

For example: Seventh and Fourteenth streets, the main approaches from the northern 
and southern portions of the city, are to be improved in their full length; Pennsylvania 
avenue, which is the main artery of the eity leading from Georgetown to the Navy Yard, 
is to be improved ; New York avenue, extending from the heart of the city diagonally into 
the northeastern portion of the city, is to be improved; Georgetown and the northern por- 
tion of the city ana to be connected also by a well-improved street; and both in Georgetown 
and Washington lateral streets, intersecting thoroughfares, where the population is most 
dense, are to be improved at once; and throughout the city, as fast as necessities require 
it, connections are to be made with the main streets and avenues leading to the center and 
circumference of the District. A 3G-inch water-main is to be laid from the Reservoir at 
Georgetown to Capitol Hill, which will give the whole city an abundant supply of water. 
Sewers are being laid in principal streets and avenues to accommodate our rapidly-increas- 
ing population, and all these improvements are being made with reference to a well 
digested plan, and are harmonious with that plan. Work done to-day will not have to be 
done again when other improvements become necessary. Wherever improvements are being 
made, they are done so as not to bo disturbed in the further execution of the plan. This 
was never done before, and to neglect to make improvements under some such idea as this 
heretofore has cost us many thousands of dollars, and has not always secured to us those 
improvements which were most needed. It will bo observed, too, by those who care to 
notice the progress of these improvements, that they are done under the most careful super- 
vision and inspection, and in the best possible manner. This careful and intelligent man 
agement may be illustrated by calling attention to one single precaution, which I believe 
was never heretofore taken in the improvement of the streets: the Board of Public Works 
lays no permanent pavement, except where they have first laid water and gas-mains and 
sewers, and have connected water and gas with the curb in front of the bordering property. 
This saves the constant annoyance of disturbing the pavements as property- holders from 
time to time conclude to introduce water or gas to their premises. Under the present man- 
agement there need be no occasion, except some unforeseen accident happens, to disturb the 
pavement once laid, until it becomes necessary to repair it from long use, I believe, sir, 
that any person who will carefully examine the work proposed to be done, and the manner 
in which that is done which has already been commenced, will have- no doubt as to the 
fact, that we are largely benefited as property-holders in placing the management of our 
affairs where they now are. Mistakes are made, doubtless ; but wo must not judge of a 
general plan, ia the main wftll executed, by mistakes in detail, which are inevitable. 

STJUSfCTTJOK SUIT. 

I have hinted at seme of the embarrassments under which the Board of Public Works 
have labored ; but there is one, chief «f all others, I must not omit, and which explains much 
of the fault-finding against the Board, and relieves them from any responsibility arising 
from the fact that the working season is nearly over, with comparatively little done. I 
refer to the injunction which was Bued out to enjoin the Go%'ernor from negotiating the 
bonds authorized by the Legislative Assembly. The first loan bill was approved and be- 
came a law July 10 last. It is well known in this community that the Governor had provided 
for the negotiation of these bonds, even before the act passed, as soon as he could deliver 
them, at 97A- on the dollar, as low as national bonds could be hypothecated ; .but, before he 
could execute the law, certain persons, denying their validity, "brought the injunction pro- 
ceeding, and tied up the hands of your Governor, so that we were left with no provision 
for carrying on our improvement':. This course made it necessary to submit the question 
to the people, but, under our organic act, that could be done only upon the submission ©f 
the question at a general election, and no provision could be made- for a general election 
sooner than the middle of November; and hence, inevitably, the government must remain 
inactive until the people should authorize the negotiation of the loan. Over four monthn 
of the most desirable season for woik were wasted, and, when this loan is authorized nest 



BO 

Wednesday, we shall find ourselves upon tho verge of winter, an i pe •■],',.-. • i kkap] 
auy extended improvements. 

There is a responsibility, Mr. Chairman, resting upon the gentlemen who brought about 
this result, which I am glad does not rest upon my shoulder*. The damage to you interest is, 
perhaps, not irreparable; but, sir, it is to be computed in no small sum of money, and I 
trust these gentlemen may be made to feel this responsibility in a suit upon their bond. 

It is no small thing to stop tho wheels of any government; and a half dozen or down 
l>sopi8 in a community ought not to be permitted to place themselves in a position to 
thwart the wishes of the great masse.?, without understanding fully the rftiponsi&ility they 
take upon themselves. 

Tho highest judicial tribunal in this District has pronounced in favor of tho validity of 
that act; but the case still remains pending, and may bo appealed to the Supreme Court of. 
the United States, in which event we would be, if relying entirely upon that measure, de- 
layed still further at least two years. It is our duty, then, to see that no further embar- 
rassment is thrown in the way of carrying oat the improvements which a great majority 
of the people demand, and to that end we should vote for the loan now pending. 

If the injunctionista should dismiss their suit, or if, ultimately, it should be decided, as 
[ believe it will be, favorably to tho validity of the law, our Legislature could at once, 
■■Mid would, in deference to the wishes of the people, repeal the act, and leave the Board iu 
its disbursement of the four million now proposed to be given them. 

EXPENSE OP THE NEW AND OLD GOVERNMENTS COMPAUKU 

Another objection, Mr. Chairman, which I have heard mentioned, and which has been, 
I think, untruthfully urged, is the gross extravagance of this Government as compared 
with the previous ones. I think it can be shown the expense of conducting the District 
Government is not enough greater than the expense formerly of managing the affairs of the 
City of Washington, Georgetown, and the county, to overbalance tho increased advantages 
of the new; and I think, laying tho question of greater advantage out of view entirely, 
that tho difference is in favor of the new government. I would follow this to a demon 
stration, but I will not occupy your time now in doing it. I have looked into the records 
and speak advisedly . 

THE FOPH-MILLION LOAN THE BEST MEANS OF RAISING MOj) 

Another objection which I have heard urged, and which deserves notice, is this: That it 
is more expensive to the District to raise $4,000,000 at once, to make it a charge upon tho 
District for twenty years, than to appropriate from year to year the money necessary to 
make the contemplated improvement. This objection I have heard made by those who do 
curt object to the expenditure which is proposed to be made, but prefer the latter plan. 

I shall not now attempt to elaborate the theory upon which the present proposed loan 
! gets, and will only suggest a point or two. No one who will reflect a moment upon the 
present condition of the District will say that our improvements are up to the age in any 
thing, or up to the necessities even of a provincial town. We are behind in architecture; 
behind in comforts-; behind in our appreciation, indeed, of what we really need; and wo- 
fully behiad in the possibilities of our city, and in realizing a faint idea of its future. Wo 
have been plodding along unconscious that our population has been increasing at the rate 
of from five to eight thousand each year during the last decade; and now that these 
increasing numbers are demandiug greater facilities for doing business — greater comforts 
in their home life — greater means of development in every way — we aro startled at the 
beggarly progress we have made, and the obvious improvements necessary. Aroused sud- 
i-enly from our stupor, many of us cannot and others will not comprehend tho new depart- 
ure proposed. 

Your new administration is made up of men who have personally kept pace with our 

■ -iih, while most of U3 were asleep. They see what we have been, in what proportion 
we have grown, and they look to the future growth as a mathematical certainty. With 
data the solution is easy. Certain radical and somewhat expensive improvements are 
needed now, but we cannot afford to make them by immediate payments. These improve- 
ments look to the future and to our posterity ; and it is this certain future, and this certain 
increase of population upon whom it is proposed to casta part of the burden. Upou this 
Iciple all great cities have been built, ail great railroads constructed — indeed, most 
enterprises, great and small, are carried on. This idea looks to a largo increaso in the 
aggregate wealth of the community, the advance in the value of real property, and the 
development and building up of the waste and vakioless portions of toe District., 



Admitting, as all mu-3t, that the outlay proposed is necessary, is it not better to postpone 
payment at 7 per cent, interest than pay all now, when money is worth 10 and 12 per 
cent? 

Ten years have doubled our population. In ten years we have seen property advanco 
from 10 cents per foot to $1 50 per foot. We have seen rows of stately dwellings whore 
there were morasses. It is this past which promises our splendid future, on the faith of 
which rests our loan. 

Again: We place this loan on the sound principle, that with such data we may surety 
invest our proportion of the tax on the income it assures. We are but wisely preparing 
for the coming population, out of which our investment is sure to be made up to us four, 
yes, tenfold. 

If we will but think a moment that the idea is the simple one upon which private busi- 
ness is conducted — that it has received the sanction of the ages — I think we may feel re- 
assured of its wisdom. 

Look at our recently devastated sister, Chicago. It has a population of 300,000; we, of 
130,000. That city has recently lost by absolute destruction $150,050,000; and iu this 
great conflagration wa3 swept away every means of doing business. There was really 
nothing left but the "good will" of the people; and yet we are confidently told that, in 
ten years, Chicago will rise, Phcenix-like, prouder, more prosperous, and more wealthy 
than before. Can this be done by "paying as they go?" Such a policy would not restoro 
tho city to its former glory in a century. 

Washington is not without its promise of more than aggregated population. Wo have 
at our hand the most magnificent water-power in America. We are situated so as to eom- 

Eel the utilization of this vast source of wealth ; and when we emerge from the pall which 
aa overspread us, and come to the front line of leading cities, this will be developed. 
Behold Chicago, rising out of a great conflagration, stronger than ever. $150,000,000 
swept away, and gone forever; yet the people are not daunted. While we here, a large 
oity of great promise, are higgling over the expenditure of $1,000,000, which does not even 
reave thecommuniiy, but is made to exchange hands, and iniits transit add many millions 
to our permanent wealth. 

SPECIAL TAXE3 UNDER OLD 6TSTEM AND NEW COMPARED, 

In this connection I desire to present iu a compact form, mathematically stated, the 
difference between the old system of special improvements here and that of the new. 

Under the old system, the whole special taxes for improvements were assessed against 
the property, which may be stated, then, as 100 per cent. Under the new system, one-third 
of the special taxes for improvements are assessed against the property say 33i per cent. ; 
saving two-thirds, or G&§ per cent. 

Now, the special tax for improvements in the city has averaged, during the past few 
years, from $1,000,000 to $1,250,000. Tho saving of two-third3 of this amount in special 
taxes, therefore, would be from $668,000 to $840,000 per annum, say $750,000. 

Under the loan plan an annual tax of three per cent., as a sinking fund sufficient to ul- 
timately pav the bonds, and seven per cent, for interest, in all ten per cent, on the princi- 
pal, $4,000,000, will give $400,000 to be levied. Deduct this $400,000, paid on account of 
loan, from the $840,000 saved in the direct special tax, and the net saving of tax >:nder the 
n-ew system, as compared with the old, amounts to $440,000 per annum. But this is not 
all the saving. 

Under the old system there was levied annually a tax of about .$500,000 for street im- 
provements in wards, known as the " ward-fund improvements," in addition to the special 
taxes. This tax is entirely dispensed with under the new system, and goes to swell the 
aggregate of gain in the new over the old. 

It eeems almost incredible, in view of the fact that we arc getting more and better im- 
provements than before, that this statement can be true; and yet I am unable to discover 
any defect in it, and so also is Governor Cooke, to whose courtesy I am indebted for this 
form of putting the two systems in comparison iu so terse a manner. 

It may be suggested that, if the property holders pay but one-third of the tax, still tho 
©flier two-third3 must be paid from the general tax fund ; and thus, while wo would save 
in one direction, we must lose in another. But when we consider that tb.3 general taxes 
are ten cents upon a dollar lean than they were last year, even that suggestion loses its 
weight. I cannot account for this v/ondorful result, except upon the hypothesis that we 
have an economical and intelligent management of our finances, and that the experience 
of the gentlemen at tho head of our Government, in. their private business, is making itself 
; felt ia conducting our public interests. . 



12 

ARE TAXES ISCft EASED ? 

I hear it stated that the taxes are being largely increased under the present system, both 
general and special taxes. Our general tax last year was $1 80 on the $100; under the 
act of our Legislature, approved August 23, 1871, the general tax for this year is $1 70, 
being 10 cents less than formerly. In the matter of special taxes property-holders are 
grearly benefited by the present law, which provides that they shall pay but one third of 
tho cost of improvements ; and it will be seen, that as this ono third is to be levied upon 
property abutting upon tho streets improved, the property upon each side of the street 
pays really but one sixth of the cost. Formerly the whole of the special taxes were as- 
sessed against the property improved ; and although the whole District was more or less 
benefited by these improvements, the cost was assessed against but few. Now, the cornrnu 
nity at large, who are generally benefited by the improvements, pay, as they should, tho 
greater proportion. And if this can be done, as it appears it will be by levying a less 
general tax than heretofore, it is plain that tho people at large pay less towards the general 
improvement of the city than formerly, while they pay much less towards the special tax 
fund. I can attribute this saving in both directions to no other cause than that of oi.r 
improved financial system. Again, in making these improvements, the observing citizen 
must have noticed that a large saving is made in tho system of parking and in reducing 
the width of the streets. I have often heard anxious fault-finders suggest that this was 
adding great expense to the people, in compelling them to make wide sidewalks, for ex 
ample; but a little reflection would have taught them that the pavement of a sidev/ali 
costs but about one third or one fourth of the pavement of a street; and, further, that the 
6pace in front of the building line and the curb is not intended to be paved wholly, Sni a 
portion of it is to be sodded and ornamented, according to the taste of tho proprietor, 
which may be done at a much less cost even than paving the sidewalk. Aside from the 
practical advantages of these changes and the beautifying of the margins of the streets in 
front of the houses, there is a very large saving in the ultimate cost, both to the property 
holder and the city at large. 

LAW WITH UEGAED TO FOBFEITUEES IP SPECIAL TAX IS NOT PAID. 

1 havo been asked by many anxious property-holders what the law is with regara to 
the collection of this special tax, and what are the forfeitures in case of default of payment. 
Some of our small property-holders, who are not familiar with the law, have been told by 
the opponents of tho law that, unless they pay for the improvements made in front of theh 
property within thirty days, they will be sold out. Now, the law upon that subject, ] 
think, is more liberal in this District than any similar law I have ever examined. The 
act of August 10, provides: That after the expiration of thirty days from the completiorj 
of the improvement, the Board of Public Works shall issue a certificate of indebtedness- 
against the property, which shall bear ten per cent, interest per annum, and, if it is not 
paid within one year, tho Board shall, upon application of the holder of the certificate, 
proceed to sell tho property against which the certificate exists. The sale to be first duly 
advertised for three successive weeks in some daily newspaper in the district, and the deed 
shall be given by the Governor, if the certificate is not paid; but the owner has the right 
of redemption, by paying fifteen per cent, per annum, at any time within two years from 
the date of the sale. The owner, then, has thirty days in which to pay without interesl, 
and then has a year more by paying ten per cent, per annum, which is the legal state oi 
.interest in the District, and lower than money can generally be obtained for, and he may 
still have two years in which to redeem it, at fifteen per cent, interest, so that the ownei 
may, at any time within three years, discharge his indebtedness, and remove any cloud 
apon his title by reason of this tax. Certainly this is very far from justifying the state 
ment that the property -holder who neglects for thirty days to pay his special tax mray be 
sold cut and dispossessed. 

Now, Mr. Chairman, I believe 1 have noticed about all the serious objections I have 
heard urged against this loan. There are perhaps many other minor matters of complaint 
against the present administration, but they do not really touch tho question as to the 
policy of indorsing tYis loan, and I believe the facts will refute even these objections. 

After all, we come back to the main proposition, which is: Can we trust the Boa^d c.i 
Public Works? And, upon this point, 1 believe all candid men, who will for a momec' 
forget their passions and prejudices, and allow the facts to take the place of vague sus- 
picions and rumors, are prepared to trust them. If this is not true, then whom can we 
trust? There must be an ultimate responsibility tomewhere, and where better than within.. 
this Boaxd. 



You may change this plan, you may matittftfc oilier systems, you may relapse again to 
tho one-man power ; but therewould always be about the same number of persons opposing 
yotr: there would always be a certain portion of tho community who would differ with 
you , and I doubt whether there would ever be a condition of things more acceptable to 
fl\& people. s 

DAMAuEb 10 raOPEHTV BY IMPROVEMENTS. 

1 want here to express my views with regard to damage to property, resulting from 
changes in grades. These changes have been the means of almost ruining some property, 
while greatly benefiting other. I think wherever the grade has been once established by 
authority of the old governments, payment should bo made for all damages accruing by 
reason of any change now carried out. This payment should come from tho property bene- 
fited, in part, and in part from the general funds of the District At present I believe we 
have no law to cover this case, but I. trust the Legislature will soon give ua on-e. 

. ASSESSMENTS t'NDEll OLD LAW OH rHESKNT IMPROVEMENTS. 

I have been asked whether the assessments against property for improvements made 
uuder the new government, which were authorized by tho old government, would be made 
under the new or old law? If under the old. the property must pay all the tax; if under 
the new, but one-third. 

My belief is, that the assessment must be made under the new rule, and that the Board 
wjIIbjq construe the law. If not, then it :.- the duty of the Legislature to make provision 
for payment on the one-third principle. 

This is fair and just, as we get the benefit of the improvement the same now as from 
Jinprovemerits ordered and made now. For example: The property bordering on Foe r- 
toeuth street, where wooden pavement is being laid under an old contract, there is no 
equitv in compelling the property-holders to pay for all the improvements, while on Fif- 
teenth street, improvements made at the same time are charged against the property under 
(-.hp> one-third rule. 

THE DUTY OF GOOD CITIZENS TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTED AUTHORITIES. 

I'uere is a duty, Mr. Chairtrain, which 1 think devolves upon all good citizens, and it is 
that duty which has led me to my conclusions in this matter. I believe, sir, that all good 
citizens should uphold the constituted authorities, whether elected or appointed, until they 
have given some good ground for distrust, either of their integrity or their ability. I am 
not ah advocate of any man or set of men, nor do I sustain any relation to the Board of 
Fubh: Works which would either require or induce me to state to the people of this Dis- 
trict what I do not myself believe to be true I could not serve you as I hope to, with a 
single eye to the welfare of the wholo people, if I were to declare it my purpose to stand 
by the Board of Public Works right or wrong ; and 1 do not hesitate to say, that whenever 
I shall 6ee any sufficient evidence that theso gentlemen are abusing their high trust, and 
are using their positions for personal aggrandizement at the expense of your interest, I 
s'l.tli not be tho last one to make known that fact to you. 

But, sir, as one having faith in this present administration — as one believing in its in 
tegrity of purpose, its public spirit, and its general determination to conserve the good <■>!' 
the whole people — I shall defend this Board against all falsehood, and against all lactiou.i 
opposition, which may tend to impair their usefulness and to destroy their influence for 
good in this community. This is no less my duty as your public servant, than it is yours 
aa citizens. 

A WOT.D TO REPUBLICANS. 

One word more to the Republicans of this District and I shall have done. I look upon 
this loan as a Republican measure. It was devised by a Republican administration. It 
was passed by a Republican Legislature. And the early opposition to it emanated from, 
and was confined almost exclusively to, the Democrats of the District. While I regard it 
as a Republican measure, and while I would look upon its defeat as a Republican defeat, 
and believe it would be so regarded throughout the country, yet I make this distinction 
that it is not a political question. Democrats may honestly vote for it, consistently with 
party fealty. This they may do upon its general merits, and because they believe it will 
subserve their 1 :rt interest: but I cannot perceive how a Republican can contribute to its 






14 

defeat without giving direct aid to the party seeking ascendancy in this District, and wueh 
we believe at this time could not come into power without impairing seriously the interest; 
of our people. The officers of our new government have labored under many disadvan- 
tages. They have been compelled to act upon considerations, in certain details of admin- 
istration, which you jxnd I may possibly have decided otherwise, but which have in noi 
affected the leading idea upon which they came into power; that is, that-the administra- 
Lion should bo managed upon Republican principled. And, sir, I cannot regard that - 
as a true friend of our party, in this effort to establish itself firmly in the hearts of frM 
people, who shall proclaim publicly the treachery of the- officers controlling the DfetrWi 
Government. • 

Whether all the appointrhenta made have been grven to earnest working Republican-', eft 
not, I do not know ; for many of the appointee's are unknown to me personally, a? are also 
their antecedents. But I think I speak truthfully, when I say that, generally, trU ap- 
pointments have not only been unexceptionable in point of political conviction, bi I als< 
in the capacity and integrity of the appointees. I doubt whether those of our party 
iind fault with some of the appointments made would have themselves committed. 1 .... 
mistakes, or come nearer satisfying the general sentiment of. our party. However, . do 
not believe it wise to discuss publicly this question, and I have orly mentioned it beca 
some more or ress prominent in local politics have animadverted in the most public man- 
ner against the prqeent administration. The people of the District decided last May i 
the issue distinctly made, that they prefer a Republican administration to a Democ:. 
administration. I believed then, and I believe now, that the best interests of the District 
can only be secured by such an administration. I believed then that, if we were sneses - 
ful in electing our Representative to Congress and our Legislative Assembly, that, we 
would have an unqualified Republican administration'; and this I believe we to-day have! 
There is no officer connected with the District Government, to my knowledge, possessing 
any influence or control whatever in shaping the principles upon which the administration 
is to be managed politically, who is not a sincere and devoted Republican, if this be true, 
we have attained oixrat as near to a Republican administration as it is -perhaps possible 
to do. 

Mr. Chairman and fellow-citizens, I have confined myself, as far as was possible, to a 
careful and candid statement of facts. I had no intention, when I began, to attempt, to 
arouse you to any particular pitch of feeling. I preferred rather to make this a familiar 
talk with you, in the hope that I might secure for the issues presented to the people now 
a careful aud attentivo hearing, If I have contributed to this result, I shall be content. 
Since you have placed in my hands to some extent the welfare of this people, my thci<. 
have been to work for the future of Washington as well as the present. I have the 
greatest faith in that future. I believe, sir, that most of us will live to see this one of the 
grandest centres on this globe. I believe that within the next five years we will win 
thousands of warm supporters and friends in the remotest parts of our country, who are 
now either utterly indifferent to their National Capital or are openly hostile to its present 
location. I believe that within that time we will have gained such hold upon the hearts 
of the people, that Congress will be compelled to yield to a public sentiment which will 
demand that the General Government shall take upon itself a just share of expenditure^ 
in making this Capital a type and exponent of American institutions and American idea*. 
J sbaij werk unselfishly to that end, and I aik your aid in it? consummation. 



Endowment of Public Schools in District of Columbia, 
SPEECH 

OP 

HON. N. P. CHIPMAN, 

OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 27, 1872. 



The House having met for debate as in Committee 
of the Whole on the state of the Union- 
Mr. CHIPMAN said : 

Mr. Speaker : For the first time in the history 
of our Government, the people of the District 
of Columbia are permitted to make known 
their wants to the country through a represent- 
ative chosen by themselves. There are many 
questions, of vital interest to the people whom 
1 represent, which I hope to bring to the atten- 
tion of Congress for favorable action, and at the 
proper time I shall address myself to them. 

It has not seemed to me that Congress has 
in late years comprehended the true relations 
which the District of Columbia bears to the 
nation. While Congress has fostered educa- 
tion, internal improvements, and almost every 
variety of local enterprise elsewhere in the 
country, the capital has received scarcely any 
attention, not even to the extent of providing 
for the convenient discharge of public duties 
by the officers of Government ; while the splen- 
did plans and designs which were matured by the 
founders of our capital, looking to its develop- 
ment into a fit exponent of the advancing civil- 
ization of this great people have languished 
and been forgotten. Patriotism, national pride, 
every consideration must point to our national 
capital as the focal point of America which 
shall exemplify, in every essential element, 
the American character ; and in this view the 
whole people are deeply concerned in its future 
welfare. 

Mr. Speaker, the duty of Congress to take 
upon itself in some fair proportion the cost of 
this great national work, its duty to improve 
our long-neglected harbor, and, in brief, to 
work out the problem of making a capital 
city which shall be commensurate with the 
needs as well as the pride of the greatest Gov- 
ernment and people on the globe, furnish a 
theme which I hope to treat in due time. 



I rise now, sir, to speak briefly upon a meas- 
ure pending before this House, which lies at 
the foundation of the superstructure we are 
to erect at this seat of Government. I refer 
to the bill donating-public land scrip in aid of 
free schools in the District of Columbia. 

Popular education is at once the glory and 
safety of this Republic. No man will dispute 
now that this is axiomatic. Our fathers laid 
the foundation and their children have steadily 
built upon it until the free school has become 
as sacred as liberty itself. Wherever we may 
travel throughout this broad land, from the 
frozen regions of Alaska to the orange groves 
and perpetual summer of Florida, with one 
exception, we find the generous hand of the 
nation blessing, protecting, and sustaining pop- 
ular education. Public lands, money, land 
scrip, and aid of various kinds have been given 
upon the asking, with one only exception and, 
Mr. Speaker, with shame, and in humiliation 
I speak it, that exception is at the heart of the 
nation, the seat of its political power. Here, 
where the magnificent donations to popular 
education have originated and passed into law ; 
here, where millions of treasure and millions 
of lands have been bestowed upon the great 
work of educating the youth of the country; 
here, in a territory consecrated sacredly to the 
whole people, and over which the Constitution 
has given exclusive jurisdiction to Congress; 
here, where the children of parents, coming 
from every quarter of the Union, are to be 
reared and educated; here, in this capital, we 
are struggling to-day under grievous taxation to 
establish common schools without an acre of 
land or a dollar of appropriation from the Gen- 
eral Government. 

Sir, I shall not insult the intelligence of this 
House by arguing that this exceptional and 
anomalous condition of things should no 
longer exist. I am here rather to point out 
the evil and suggest a remedy, believing that 



this Congress will no longer discriminate 
against a community, at Wst as deserving as 
any other in the country of the nation's aid. 

Let me then, sir, present some of the con- 
siderations which, I think, demand the pas- 
sage of the bill to which I have alluded. In 
doing so I shall bring together facts of record, 
and submit them with little comment. 

PROVISIONS OF THE BILL. 

The bill asks an appropriation of two mil- 
lion five hundred thousand acres of land scrip 
for the purpose of endowing to that extent the 
public schools of the District of Columbia. 
The proceeds of five hundred thousand acres 
are to be used in the construction of buildings ; 
the remaining two million to be invested in 
United States bonds, and to be set apart for- 
ever as a permanent school fund, the interest 
of which is to be used annually iu support of 
public schools. 

SOME PACTS IMPORTANT TO THE DISCUSSION. 

Preliminarily it is important to know some- 
thing of the condition of our schools, the num- 
ber of children attending, the number unable 
to attend, &c. I will give such facts as would 
seem pertinent. 

I submit in this connection a table which I 
wid read, and which is made up from reliable 
data : 

Number of children in the District of Columbia between 
the ages of six and seventeen years. 





White. 


Colored. 


Total. 


Georgetown 


17,403 
2,086 
1,688 


8,532 

796 

1,166 


25.935 

2,882 
2,854 






Total 


21.177 


10,494 


31,671 


Numbe 


r attending publia school 


». 




White. 


Colored. 


Total. 


AVashington 

Georgetown 


6,663 
500 
556 


3,638 
333 
674 


10,301 

833 

1,200 


Total 


7,719 


4.615 


12,334 


Number not often 


ding public schools for tt> 
are provided. 


hom no seata 




White. 


Colored. 


Total. 


Washington 

Georgetown 


10.097 
1,586 
1.132 


4,894 
463 
422 


14.961 
2,049 
1,554 


Total 


12.785 


5.779 


19,554 



These tables disclose the frightful fact that 
19,564 children are deprived of all means of 
attending school. I will now give iu some 



detail further facts which I deem important 
as to schools for white children in Washing- 
ton. 

ACCOMMODATION FOR WHITE CHILDREN IN •WASHING- 
TON. 

Number of school buildings owned, 11; num- 
ber of school-rooms in same, 07; number of 
school-rooms rented, 06; number of seats for 
pupils, 7,336 ; amount paid for rent, 1870 and 
1871, $15,370; value of school sites owned, 
$111,125 ; value of buildings owned, $291,650 ; 
value of furniture owned, $30,925 ; total value 
of school property, $433,700; number of 
schools, 123 ; number of white children for 
whom no provision is made, 10,007. Fully one 
half of the school-houses consist of dilapidated 
sheds, abandoned churches, storehouses, work- 
shops, lecture-rooms, public resorts, old sta- 
bles, deserted market-houses, &c, wholly unfit 
for the purpose for which they are used. 

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR wniTE CHILDREN IN GEORGE- 
TOWN. 

The public-school rooms and buildings of 
Georgetown for white children consist of one 
old Methodist church, costing, with repairs, 
$3,000; one building built for school pur- 
poses, $6,000; one building built recently for 
$10,000. These buildings accommodate 720 
children. Fifteen hundred and eighty-six 
white children are unable to obtain seats in 
public schools. 

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR COLORED CHILDREN .IN WASH- 
INGTON AND GEORGETOWN. 

Let me now present some facts as to the 
colored children of Washington and George- 
town. 

The number of school buildings owned by 
trustees is 8 ; number of rooms in same occu- 
pied by schools, 55 ; number of seats, 2,944 ; 
number of rooms rented, 9 ; number occupied 
without expense, 5 ; number of seats occupied 
not belonging to trustees, 592 ; total number 
of rooms occupied, 68; total number of seat3 
provided, 3,538 ; number of children for whom 
no seats were provided, 5,790. 

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR WHITE AND COLORED CHILDREN 
IN THE COUNTY. 

I present also to the House some facts as to 
the schools for white and colored in the rest 
of the District. Number of school-houses, 16} 
number of seats provided, l r 200; number 
of children for whom no provision is made, 
1,654. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, who is responsible for 
these inadequate accommodations? It may 
be suggested that if our facilities are now in- 
adequate it is the duty of our people to make 
provision at once for meeting present wants. 
1 shall show as I proceed that the condition 
of things here as to schools is exceptional, 
and that the General Government, while not 
responsible altogether, probably, for these 
inadequate accommodations, still is properly 



chargeable with the duty of making some pro- 
vision for them. I now suggest only the fact 
that our people are paying a larger per cent, 
of tax for school purposes than probably any 
other city of our population. 

Mr. RITCHIE. I desire to know what the 
regulations in the school system of the Dis- 
trict are in regard to the common tuition of 
white and black children, and I desire to 
know further what the gentleman's views are 
in regard to the bill introduced by Mr. Sumner 
pertaining to that question ? 

Mr. CHIPMAN. As to the latter question, 
I do not consider it germane to the discussion 
here, and, perhaps, might properly decline 
to answer it. I have said to the people of 
this District, if I had a vote in Congress, I 
would vote for Mr. Sumner's civil rights bill. 
I believe that answers the gentleman. 

As to the question how the children are 
provided for in this District, as to white and 
colored, I answer that the schools are now 
'separate. The appropriations made are made 
in bulk for the education of all the youth of 
the District. Under an act of Congress the 
colored children are furnished with a separate 
fund, in the proportion which the number of 
colored children bears to the number of white 
children, and that fund is set apart and placed 
in the hands of the trustees of the colored 
schools and administered by them under their 
own regulations. This is under an act of Con- 
gress. I believe that answers the gentleman's 
question. 

I submit, in this connection, a table showing 
the expenses of our schools and their gi-owth 
in the District in the last ten years. The rapid 
increase of expense has more than kept pace 
with the increase of population, while the 
system has advanced in efficiency a hundred 
fold. 

The expenditures for the public schools of 
Washington have been steadily increasing in 
amount from 1860 down to the present time. 
The following table shows in round numbers 
the sum expended each year: 

Year ending June 30, I860 „ $32,000 

Year ending June 30, 1861 26.000 

Year ending June 30, 1862 44. Olio 

Year ending June 30, 1863 50,000 

Year ending June 30. 1864 68.000 

Year ending June 30, 1805 82,000 

Year ending June 30, 1866 76,000 

Year ending June 30, 1867 121,000 

Year ending June 30. 1868 125.000 

Year ending June 30, 1869 245,000 

Year ending June 30, ]870 240.000 

Year ending June 30, 1871 373,000 

Year ending June 30, 1872. (estimated) 482,000 

This table, Mr. Speaker, presents an exhibit 
every way creditable to our people ; but, sir, 
it has been at no little cost to us. Our taxes 
have increased steadily until we are now paying 
sixty cents on the hundred dollars of taxable 
real property. 



Now, sir, consider this tax with that paid 
by other cities : 

Cents. 

Chicago pays on the hundred dollars 16.1 

Boston pays on the hundred dollars 17.9 

Baltimore pays on the hundred dollars 23 

Philadelphia pays on the hundred dollars 23 

Cincinnati pays on the hundred dollars 35 

Saint Louis piys on the hundred dollars 40 

San Francisco pays on the hundred dollars 40 

To appreciate this consider further : that in 
Boston, with a school population of forty-six 
thousand three hundred and one, they have a 
valuation of property of $584,000,000, while 
we with thirty- one thousand six hundred and 
seventy-one school population, have but about 
eighty million dollars. San Francisco has less 
school population than we, with more thau 
double our property valuation, while Balti- 
more, with but little more school population, 
has four times our property valuation. This 
showing would seem to acquit the District from 
any charge of illiberality in taxing her citizens 
in support of schools. But we have reached 
the limit of our capabilities. Our school tax 
now is over one third of the whole tax upon 
real property. 

These are some of the facts, Mr. Speaker, 
necessary to be considered in connection with 
the argument. And, sir, it must not be over- 
looked that the District of Columbia cannot 
hope to rival in solid wealth the other lead- 
ing cities of the Union; her population, in 
the nature of things, must always be largely 
in excess of her wealth, as compared with other 
cities, and hence we cannot look forward to 
that wealth which constitutes the basis of tax- 
ation. But in support of the bill I submit 
further : 

1. ThattheGeneral Government should assist 
in the support of our public schools, for the 
reason that a large per cent, of the children 
here are the children of parents in the service 
of the Government, whose domicile is else- 
where, whose property interests are elsewhere, 
and who, in most cases, pay no taxes in support 
of our schools. Professor Barnard, in his 
special report to Congress while Commissioner 
of Education, placed this per cent, as high as 
fifty. In the report of his successor, Mr. 
Eaten, for 1870, the per cent, is put about one 
third. In the report of our superintendent 
of schools, Mr. Wilson, he estimates this per 
cent, at twenty-eight. It may safely be assumed 
as twenty five per cent. 

My point is, that these children should be 
educated, and that the whole of the burden 
should not fall upon the tax-payers of the Dis- 
trict. Our own children are excluded from the 
schools by the presence of this class, and we 
here have an explanation, in part, of the large 
number of children unable to obtain seats in 
the schools. 

2. I suggest a further point, that a large 
proportion of our children are the children of 



oar colored citizens, who, I think, are pecu- 
liarly the wards of the Government. The con- 
clusion to be derived from this fact is so well 
stated by General Walker (Superintendent of 
Census) in an address recently delivered by 
him at the dedication of one of our fine school 
edifices, that I quote it as giving the argument 
in a nutshell : 

" Still another reason why the school necessities of 
"Washington are found to be more burdensome than 
those of any other city in the United States (and it 
is also an additional reason why the General Gov- 
ernment should contribute largely and freely to- 
ward these expenses) is, that far more than one 
half of that element in the present population of 
the city, which makes the largest demand for such 
expenditures, without having the ability to con- 
tribute, in any appreciable measure, to the public 
funds, is properly to be regarded as the direct crea- 
tion of the policy of the General Government. That 
is the plain truth of the case. Washington, as acity, 
is not legitimately responsible for these people. 
They came here by virtue of acts and laws of the 
General Government which looked to the interest 
of the whole country ; and the whole country, there- 
fore, should help to bear the burden. We rejoice in 
that policy ; we glory in emancipation ; but that 
only creates a stronger reason for relieving the tax- 
payers of the District from the inevitable hardship 
of such an unexampled influx of unprovided and 
uninstructed freedmen. These people came here 
for the same reason that the army of General Lee 
tried to come here, because the word ' Washing- 
ton' was synonymous with ' freedom ;' because 
Washington was the capital of the nation that 
slavery sought to destroy; because "Washington was 
the home of the great emancipator. 

'" In 1850 the number of colored persons in "Wash- 
ington was about ten thousand. In 1860, although 
the white population had nearly doubled, the num- 
ber of the colored was still below eleven thousand, 
and no reason appears for believing that their num- 
bers would have been greatly increased from 1860 to 
1870, but for the political causes to which allusion 
has been made. If this is so, twenty or twenty-five 
thousand colored people are here in obedience to 
no social or economical laws, but as the result of 
political forces and the direct acts of the General 
Government. The General Government, then, more 
than the city, is responsible for them, and should 
help to provide for, at least, their intellectual and 
moral needs." 

I may state another fact, drawn from the 
census, which shows that this class of our citi- 
zens are here as the direct result of the war. 
Since 1867 the number of increase of colored 
children was only one hundred and forty-one; 
the increase of white population since 1807 
has been many thousands. These colored peo- 
ple flocked to our capital to enjoy the freedom 
and the ballot and the protection of the Gov- 
ernment, where they felt it would be given 
them freely and amply. The war ended; they 
settled down, as the other population have, 
where their interests seemed to guide them. 
These people cannot leave us, nor would we 
have them. They are industrious, frugal, law- 
abiding, good citizens; but they came among 
us, many of them, in a condition of illiteracy 
and poverty which had been enforced upon 
tuem by the nature of our laws, and being 
directly responsible for their condition, as the 
General Government is, it is plainly its duty 
to make provision for their education. 

General Sherman at this same dedicatory 



meeting spoke of our debt to these people in 
the matter of education as a part of our na- 
tional debt, which he believed would not be 
repudiated. 

The colored youths of the District number 
about one third. The white children whose 
parents contribute nothing to the support of 
our schools, we haveseen, amountto about one 
fourth ; thus we have more than half of our 
children a burden upon the the tax-payers of 
this District, for whose education the General 
Government is directly responsible. If what 
we are asking here were to be given in money, 
instead of lands or land scrip, as a permanent 
endowment of our public schools, the interest 
upon it would be but a fraction of what the 
Government ought really to do to place our 
schools upon a prosperous and creditable foot- 
ing. Two and a half million dollars at six per 
cent, will give $150,000 annually, while we are 
taxing ourselves at present about a half mil- 
lion dollars annually. But we are not asking 
money; we ask only the kind of aid which the 
Government would feel least, and which it has 
extended to every State and Territory except 
the District of Columbia. 

3. But, Mr. Speaker, aside from these 
special considerations, I urge this bill upon 
the House for the further reason that it is in 
pursuance of the policy already wisely estab- 
lished by the Government. This idea of en- 
couraging public schools by congressional aid 
dates back to colonial times, and began by 
act of Continental Congress, March 20, 1785, 
which granted the sixteenth section in each 
township in support of popular education. 
Upon the admission of Oregon to the Union, 
Congress added to the sixteenth section the 
thirty-sixth section, and since that time, when- 
ever any State was admitted or Territory 
organized, a similar provision was enacted, 
setting apart the sixteenth and thirty-sixth 
sections of each township as an endowment 
to public schools. (See the several organic 
acts.) This splendid endowment covers one 
eighteenth of the whole public domain. Under 
this one grant 67,983,922 acres have been set 
apart. (See "report of Commissioner Land 
Office, 1869, p. 28.) 

Congress also, by general law (act of July 2, 
1862) granted to each State 30,000 acres for each 
Senator and Representative to which the State 
is entitled. Under this law no State got less 
than 90,000, while some of them, New York 
for instance, received nearly 1,000,000 acres. 
This grant has amounted to 9,510,000 acres. 
(Ibid, page 28.) By act of Congress admitting 
the States and erecting the Territories, there 
was also granted a university endowment which 
amounts thus far to 1, 882, S80 acres. By these 
general laws there have been appropriated for 
school purposes 78,576,794 acres. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, let me illustrate by show- 
i ing the grants to the several Territories which, 



* ^ rz %^ r?crL 



though not available now, set apart lands 
against the time when the Territories shall 
become States. The table which I now sub- 
mit is made up from the report of the Com- 
missioner of the Land Office for 1869, and 
advance sheets of the census for 1870: 

Territories. Population. Acres, 

Washington 23,955 2,438.675 

New Mexico 91,874 4,309,368 

Utah 86.786 3,003,613 

Dakota 14,181 5,363,451 

Colorado 39,864 3,715,555 

Montana 20,595 4,050,350 

Idaho 14.999 3,063,281 

Wyoming .-. 9,118 3,480,281 

Total 311,030 34,544,559 

District of Columbia 131.700 0,000,000 

Montana, with a population of 11,000 less 
than the number of our children, has over 
4,000,000 of acres. Dakota, with a still less 
population, has over 5,000,000. To illustrate 
further, I have shown that one half of ©ur 
children, or 15,000, should be provided for by 
the General Government; but we have no aid. 
Yet, Dakota, with less whole population than 
this 15,000, has over 4,000,000 acres. Sir, 
I would not take from these Territories one 
acre ; on the contrary, I would make the grant 
to the Territories available at once ; but I 
do submit, that in this bounty which I have 
shown toward the States and Territories, the 
District of Columbia should have some share. 

It may be suggested that these lands in 
the Territories are not available, and there- 
fore my illustration fails. Still it is true that 
the Government places a value of $1 25 per 
acre upon them, and if the grant is inadequate 
for the purposes originally intended it is the 
duty of Congress to supplement it so as to 
establish public schools in these Territories. 

But consider some of the States. Nevada, 
for instance, receives school lands under the 
sixteenth and thirty- sixth section grant to the 
amount of 3,985,428 acres; of agricultural 
college lands, 90,000 acres; of university 
lands, 40,080 acres; total, 4,111,508 acres. 
The population of Nevada is 42,491 ; number 
of children between the ages of six and 
eighteen, 3,293. (See report Commissioner of 
Education, 1870, pp. 213.) Here is an ample 
endowment for all .time, sufficient to meet the 
entire expenses of common schools inthe State. 
Again : Oregon, with a population of 90,923, 
has a total land grant, under the three general 
laws to which I have referred, of 3,465,786 
acres; Nebraska, with a population of 1,229,- 
930, a total land grant under these laws of 
2,838,124 acres. This endowment is esti- 
mated to be worth to the State to day more 
than ten million dollars. 

Now, sir, I cannot believe that I can 
strengthen the argument by any further com- 
ment in this connection. 



Here is a magnificent endowment which will 
stand out in all time to the credit of the far- 
seeing men who made it. But, sir, it is marred 
by one blot, and that I ask shall be here and 
now effaced forever. Do not let it be said any 
longer that an obliquity of vision or of con- 
science has shut out from all participation in 
this gift a community which of all others is the 
most needy, and, I was about to say, deserving. 
But, Mr. Speaker, I must not leave the argu- 
ment here. I must show this House still fur- 
ther the policy practiced by Government. 

SPECIAL AID BY CONGRESS TO SCHOOLS. 

Leaving these general laws, notice some of 
the special acts fostering education in the coun- 
try. I could not present a complete showing 
of the vast sums which have been contributed 
by Government, by way of special acts to the 
various States, without a careful examination 
of all the statutes from the begining of our 
Government. Some of these have been in the 
form of resolutions, some have been embodied 
in acts of a general nature for other purposes; 
and to determine them all would be a work of 
great labor and much time, which I have not 
been able to give, but I shall call attention to 
a few which I have discovered. 

1. I learn upon inquiry at the War Depart- 
ment that there have been expended through 
the Freedman's Bureau since its organization, 
for educational purposes to the freedmen of 
our country, $5,262,511 26. 

2. Under the head of special legislation in aid 
of education, I may mention that given to the 
Indians. There have been over eight million 
dollars expended in that way. We have an In- 
dian population, including Alaska, of 380,629 
persons ; about ninety-five thousand of these 
are within school age, while probably not one 
tenth could be reached by any system of 
schools. But one hundred and fifty-three 
schools are known to be in operation, with 
6,904 pupils to support, for which Congress 
appropriated, in the year 1869, $246,418. 
(See report of the Commissioner of Education 
for 1870, pages 23 and 24.) 

3. By joint resolution of Congress, April 
10, 1809, certain lands were secured to the 
State of Kansas for the support of public 
schools, in addition to lands conveyed by gen- 
eral law, comprising a total of 220,665 acres, 
which, it is estimated, will realize to the school 
fund over one million dollars. (Ibid., page 
141.) 

4. Upon the admission of Missouri as a 
State in 1820, Congress gave two townships of 
the best land in the State for the support of a 
seminary of learning, which were estimated 
to be worth in 1832, $500,000. (Ibid., page 
203.) 

And in the city of St. Louis the public 
schools rest largely on the donations made by 
Congress while Missouri was a Territory. This 



• 



6 



property is estimated at $2,000,000. (Ibid., 
page 205. ) 

5. In the admission of Texas to the Union 
I believe the whole domain of that State, which 
is an empire in itself, was reserved to the State, 
enough to develop all the material interests, 
and to secure to the people a princely endow- 
ment for their schools. These are some of 
the many special acts of Congress which go to 
illustrate the growth of education in this coun- 
try, and the policy of the Government to foster 
it wherever it is possible to do so in the dis- 
tribution of these munificent endowments to 
public schools. 

6. Among the special acts of Congress ex 
tending aid to the States I mention the swamp- 
land grants, which have been used largely for 
educational purposes. The number of acres 
thus transferred amount to 61,071,350.03. 
(Report Commissioner of Land Office for 1871, 
page 38.) 

7. Nor must I, Mr. Speaker, overlook the 
fact that about the year 1836 Congress directed 
that $37,000,000, the proceeds of public lands 
then in the Treasury, should be distributed to 
the several States, which also went to swell 
the large endowment to public schools. 

I have thus, Mr. Speaker, presented the 
points upon which our claim to this land-dona- 
tion rests, and submit them with confidence in 
the belief that they must impress you as they 
have impressed us. Let me, in conclusion, 
quote from Professor Barnard, in his special 
report to Congress, made at the request of 
Congress, upon the public schools of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. (Page 140.) He says : 

" I need hardly remind the House of the liberality 
of the Government toward the several States in 
the disposition of the public lands. Out of more 
than 80.000, 0U0 acres of these lauds appropriated 
expressly for educational purposes to States and 
Territories already constituted, and S37.O0O.00O of 
the surplus revenue deposited with the several 
States in 1836, which could have been so devoted 
by the States receiving the same, this District 
received no portion." * * * * "In these 
magnificent endowments the District has had no 
share. An appropriation in land or money to this 
District at this time would greatly aid in providing 
necessary school accommodations to meet the ex- 
penses of an enlarged course of public instruction 
worthy of the capital of the country." 

I quote also from the report of the present 
Commissioner of Education, for 1870, pages 
18 and 19: 

"'The white public schools of Washington can ac- 
commodate about one third of the white school popu- 
lation, and the colored public schools about one half 
of the colored school population. 

" Comments as to the sufficiency of the public school 
system under these circumstances are hardly nec- 
essary." * * * * " Whatever has been 
the sentiment of the people of the District of Co- 
lumbia in times past, it is manifestly growing rap- 
idly in favor of free publie schools elsewhere so suc- 
cessful. 

" Among its citizens, in its corps of teachers and 
its school officers, there have been some of the most 
ardent and competent friends of education. Their 
endeavors are worthy of commendation. The right 



and duty of Congress to take action cannot be ques- 
tioned. 

" Many special considerations enforce the duty: 

" 1. The influence of a model here would be ben- 
eficial everywhere else in the country, and especially 
in the South, now struggling for the establishment 
of efficient school systems. 

"2. Government is the largest owner of property 
here. 

"3. Twenty-eightpercent. of the scholars enrolled 
in the public schools last year belong to the families 
of those in Government employ." 

The Commissioner in this connection sub- 
mits the following comparison : 

Value of school property on each $100, actual valua- 
tion. 

St. Louis : 1.32 

Cleveland 97 

Cambridge 80 

Chicago 7t3 

Washington 76 

Boston 72 

Louisville 61 

New Haven 50 

Pittsburg 44 

Providence : 43 

Detroit 42 

Albany 37 

And adds : 

"According to this, the present endeavors made 
by the citizens of this city compare well with those 
of others. If this is correct, and there still remains 
a lack of school-houses and instruction, and a hick 
of means for this purpose, is it not fair to infer that 
the responsibility rests upon Congress ? " 

I wish I might explain to the House the 
management of our schools. I would be glad 
to show the unselfish, intelligent efforts which 
our boards of trustees and superintendents, 
white and colored, are making. But this is not 
here questioned, and I shall not take up the 
time of the House upon that subject. 

Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that I have but 
glanced at the reasons and stated in but small 
part the facts which demand of Congress the 
passage of some such measure as is here pro- 
posed. I know, sir, an idea is prevalent that the 
District of Columbia is a sort of barnacle upon 
the Government; that it draws its sustenance 
from the public Treasury, giving back nothing ; 
that we are a community of officeholders, and 
wholly devoid of public spirit or enterprise. 
I do not regard this as the time to vindicate 
the District against such aspersions, or to pre- 
sent the true relation which it bears to the 
nation ; but I must remind gentlemen of the 
fact that while we have received nothing from 
the Government to aid our commerce, our 
manufactures, or our schools, we have contrib- 
uted no little to support the Government. We 
have paid to the Treasury in revenue, exclusive 
of tax on salaries, since the establishment of 
the Internal Revenue Bureau, $4,344,695 SO. 
Compare this with the revenue derived from 
the other Territories, ten in number. They 
have paid $3,252,675 51 to the national Treas- 
ury ; and yet I have shown that they have 
received of the public domain for support of 
schools nearly thirty-five million acres of pub- 
lic lands ! And, Mr. Speaker, we stand in 



honorable comparison with some of the pros- 
perous States of the Union. Nebraska, which 
has a land grant for schools worth $10,000,000, 
has paid into the Treasury but about one fourth 
as much as the District of Columbia. Kansas 
has paid in but little more than Nebraska, and 
Minnesota but about half as much as the Dis- 
trict, and many other States have paid less. 

I mention these facts to refute the charge 
that we are leeches crying "Give, give! " I 
admit, sir, we have cried give, but our cry has 
not been answered. 

But, sir, rich as is this theme of education, 
splendid as have been the achievements of pop- 
ular schools in solving the problem of self- 
government in this country, gladly as I would 
pursue it into its relations with our republican 
institutions, I must forbeav. I have spoken 
and shall speak only to the single question — 
the du*;y of the national Government toward 
the national capital in supporting our common 
schools. I ask, sir, that we shall be treated at 
least as well as other of our citizens are treated. 
I say nothing of the desirability of establish- 
ing model schools here, which alone should 
plead our cause successfully. I say nothing 
of other considerations equally weighty, but 
have confined myself simply to practical, pal- 
pable, and self-evident propositions, and have 
planted myself on the broad ground that the 
Government cannot now turn away and refuse 
to apply the precedents itha^s already so wisely 



established, nor give a deaf ear to the petition 
of its own wards who are here either in its own 
service or by its own act. 

Mr. Speaker, I submit my case, which is the 
suit of over thirty thousand youths. If the 
District of Columbia is a part of the Union, 
it is entitled to the aid I am urging, or the 
Government should repeal all laws passed in 
support of schools ; if the exceptional condi- 
tion of our community, which I have pointed 
out, cannot find some response in these Halls, 
then must we either exclude all children from 
our schools whose parents contribute nothing 
to their support — which would be a blow at the 
very foundation of popular education — or you 
must compel us to educate others to the exclu- 
sion of our own children. 

Sir, I appeal to that broad catholic spirit 
which has characterized our national Legisla- 
ture ; I appeal to that enlightened public con- 
science which has dictated our school system ; 
I appeal to as just and wise a Congress as ever 
graced our capital to efface now and forever 
the cruel discrimination which has excluded 
the District of Columbia from any share in the 
royal bequests of the nation under which the 
common schools in every other State and Ter- 
ritory in this broad land are flourishing. And, 
sir, I make this appeal with an abiding faith 
in the justice of our cause, and in theprofound 
belief that the bill now under consideration 
will become the law of the land. 



Printed at the Office of the Congressional Globe. 



Extension of Capitol Grounds. 



SPEECH 



HON. NORTON P. CHIPMAN, 

OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, M A R C H 1 6, 1872. 



The House having met for debate as in Committee 
of the Whole on the state of the Union- 
Mr. CHIPMAN said: 

Mr. Speaker: I desire to avail myself of 
the courtesy of the House for a few moments 
to speak of the importance of extending 
the grounds surrounding the Capitol build- 
ing, and fixing definitely, for all time, the 
boundaries to the same. I think my im- 
pression as a citizen of the United States may 
be mentioned as the impression of all persons 
who visit this great Capitol, that this Capitol 
building may be regarded as a great central 
figure in the plan of our city, representing to a 
certain extent the civilization of this country. 
While the beauty of this building in its exte- 
rior or interior is beyond comparison with any 
other building erected for the same purpose in 
the world, yet the moment the eye leaves the 
Capitol building itself, it rests upon surround- 
ings which not only diminish the beauty of the 
building, but present a standing reproach and 
disgrace to the whole people of this country. 

Here we have a structure which has cost 
not far from ten or twelve million dollars, and 
which is yet uncompleted on its original plan. 
The center must be projected eastward and 
improvements made at that point, with the 
pl?n of which we are all familiar, before it 
can be said that the Capitol building is com- 
plete. Then, when that is done, and you have 
here the forty additional members of Congress 
that have been added to the already large list, 
and when you have developed in this country, 
after ten or twenty years, vast interests the 
consideration of which will center in this great 
building, it will be discovered that the present 
Capitol, with the proposed extension in the 
center, and excluding from the Capitol build- 
ing the Supreme Courtand our great Congres- 
sional Library, and the Court of Claims, and, 
in short, all the offices of the Government 
whose duties are not directly connected with 
the legislative branch of it — I say, when these 
are all excluded, as they will be, from the 
Capitol building, it will be found that it is 



scarcely adequate to the needs of this grow- 
ing country. 

Now, sir, if you will take up a map showing 
the surroundings to the Capitol, and the limit 
of the grounds as now prescribed, you will 
perceive that squares 687 and 688, lying the 
one to the northeas' of the Senate wing and 
the other to the southeast of the House wing, 
are essential to the completion of the grounds, 
not only in an esthetic point of view, but in 
a practical point of view, as much so as it, is 
essential for a man to have proper grounds 
surrounding his residence to enable him to 
have free ingress and egress to and from it. 

You will perceive, by examining this map, 
that the distance at present from the north- 
east corner of the Senate wing to the south- 
west corner of block No. 687, now commonly 
known as " Whitney's," is but about one 
hundred and fifty feet. Then, if you will 
examine the plan further, it will be seen that 
the distance between the southeast corner of 
the House wing and the northwest corner of 
square 688, commonly known as "Sander- 
son's," is about the same. Thus it will be 
seen that by preserving in front of the Capi- 
tol, which must be done if the grounds are 
restricted to their present limit, a street of a 
hundred feet width, which is the ordinary 
width of streets in this city, there wdl remain 
surrounding those portions of the Capitol to 
which I have alluded a space of but fifty feet, 
and if reduced by the terraces and pavements 
that are necessary to the protection of this 
portion of the Capitol building, it will be found 
that this street of one hundred feet will run 
practically against the very Capitol itself. 

Now, 1 need not, I hope, Mr. Speaker, 
attempt to prove to this House that this 
building should not be confined by any such 
limits. The Government already owns the 
grounds inclosed upon the west front of the 
Capitol building, it also owns the ground 
extending to B street north on the north front 
of the Capitol. It owns the grounds extend- 
ing to First street east of the Capitol, and to B 
street south, south of the Capitol. By taking 



in the two squares which I have indicated the 
grounds will be embrace! in what I may de- 
scribe as a parallelogram ; but by excluding 
these two squares there is and always will be a 
disagreeable projection into the very heart, of 
these grounds, marring their harmony, and 
making ii impossible for ornamentation, except 
in certain directions from the Capitol building. 
I do not believe that it comports with the 
dignity of this nation j nor is it contributive to 
the good order of Congress, that private prop- 
erty should abut so closely to the national 
Capitol and be subject to occupation, as it now 
is, by saloons and restaurants. 

Bui without speaking further of the plan 
itself, or of its imponance to the Government 
in making this Capiiol something of an expo 
nent of the civilization of our people and illus- 
trating their appreciation for the beautiful as 
well as the useful, let. me suggest a few points 
wherein further delay upon this subject will 
work great injury to private property, and to 
the interests of private individuals as well as 
the public. I assume, sir, that no intelligent 
person in this House, unless it be some one 
who is innoculated with the idea of removing 
the national capital, a scheme at once mis 
chievous, and I think unpatriotic, will say 
that ultimately these two squares are not to 
be included within the Capitol grounds. It 
is then a question simply as to when this 
shall be done. This is not a new question. 
It has agitated Congress within my own obser 
vation for eight years, and the records of 
Congress will show that the idea was discussed 
for many years previous to 1861. 

Before speaking of the peculiar hardships 
to citizens residing upon Capitol Hill, let me 
call the attention of the House to the report 
of the district attorney of the United States 
for the District of Columbia, made under the 
authority of an act of Congress approved June 
25,1860. This report will be found in Miscel- 
laneous Document, Senate No. 17, Thirty-Sixth 
Congress, second session. I call attention to 
this report, not for the purpose of giving it 
entire, although it cannot be found except 
upon the hies of the Senate, but more partic- 
ularly to show that this is not only not a new 
question, but that Congress and the nation are 
pledged to a certain extent to make this pur 
chase, and that the people living in the vicinity 
of the Capitol building who have abstained 
from improving their property have done it 
upon the faith which the Government pledged 
in this act of Congress that this purchase would 
be made. 

This report shows the total valuation of the 
property as assessed at the time by the corpo- 
ration authorities of Washington city. It also 
shows the actual valuation of the property as 
reached by nine of our most intelligent citi- 
zens, who under oath made an award and a 
report which the district attorney of that day 
submits with his report. The aggregate value 
was $417,574 90. 

The district attorney stated : 

" It may be safely assumed that the total cost of 
the purchase, including all expenses, cannot exceed 



$500,000, allowing the most extravagant margin pos- 
sible to cover such cases where the value named in 
the report of the commissioners may be refused and 
a resort to legal proceedings rendered necessary." 

I have had prepared within a few days by 
the District, authorities a statement showing 
the assessed valuation of these two squares 
with the improvements, and without giving 
it in detail 1 would state that the valuation 
of square No. 687 is $175,661, and of square 
No. 688, $202,820, making a total of $378,- 
481. I think it may be assumed as true that 
owing to the peculiar situation of these two 
squares and the doubts which will always hang 
over titles in consequence of this proposed 
enlargement of the grounds, the assessed 
valuation which I have given would not be 
increased by an assessment of any jury, so 
that the total would exceed the sum of $500,- 
000, from which, of course, should be deducted 
the value of the materials which would be re- 
moved from the squares. The value of the 
improvements as given by the report of the 
assessors amounts to about one hundred and 
forty thousand dollars. 

There are some other facts connected with 
the subject which I wish to give in this con- 
nection as tending to show the favorable side 
of this purchase. I find as an exhibit to this 
same report to which I have alluded, a state- 
ment made by Mr. Randolph Coyle, an old 
and skilled surveyor of this city for many 
years, from which I give the following facts: 
/the present area of the Capitol grounds is, 
1,348.9 1 6 square feet, or 30.986 acres; the 
area of the proposed enlarged ground will be 
2,450,578 square feet, or 56.257 acres ; the 
difference between the present and the pro- 
posed inclosure is 1,111,602 square feet, of 
which 254,986 feet is private building ground, 
and the remainder, 856,616 feet, public spaces, 
avenues, streets, and public alleys. 

Thus you will perceive, Mr. Speaker, that 
in a purchase of these two squares the Gov- 
ernment will come into possession by its right, 
to close the alleys and avenues, and including 
the public spaces about the Capitol, of a quan- 
tity of ground more than three times as great 
as that which it is proposed to purchase. litis 
statement will be varied probably somewhat 
in the total by excluding from the estimate 
two small squares which are not now included 
in the proposed plan of extension ; but the 
relative advantage which the Government will 
derive by this purchase by possessing itself 
of what are now streets, avenues, and alleys, 
will not be materially changed. This tends 
directly to reduce the cost of the purchase, 
and should be considered in that connection. 

Now, sir, one word with regard to the effect 
of this measure upon the present and future, 
not only of the improvements in the city of 
Washington at large but more immediately 
upon those contemplated upon Capitol Hill. 
/•There is at present, I may say truthfully, no 
decent, certainly no convenient approach to 
the Capitol from the west, which is the locality 
occupied by the great, masses of our popula- 
tion, and no such approach can be made with 
the present limited area of the Capitol grounds. 



The people of the District have made a loan 
of $4,000,000 for the purpose of beautifying 
and improving the capital of the nation. In 
the plan of improvement which is proposed to 
be adopted. Capitol Hill forms a part. Our 
people appreciate the importance of the Capi- 
tol building itself as the central figure in this 
great plan of improvements. l^' s . pl a " 
stretches in its extent from the limits of 
Georgetown in the west, to the limits of 
Washington in the east. Improvements are 
going on in the western portion of our city, 
but in this portion immediately surrounding 
the Capitol, those which are dependent to a 
certain extent upon the grade which may be 
established permanently about the Capitol are 
stopped and must remain suspended until this 
question is settled. 

Sir, it is the remark of all persons who visit 
this city that Washington should have been 
built upon Capitol Hill. Why it was not so 
built is a question unnecessary for me to an- 
swer, but certain it is that, Capitol Hill is one 
of tbe most desirable and delightful portions 
of the District of Columbia for private resi- 
dences: and must ultimately become one of 
the most popular and attractive portions of 
the city for that, purpose. It should be the 
wish of all who feel an interest in the devel- 
opment of the national capital that the im- 
provements in the city should be made as 
much as possible throughout the entire city 
and for the equal beneht of all, so that you, 
Mr. Speaker, who may prefer to live on Cap- 
itol Hill, or my friend who has just spoken, 
who may prefer to live in the western por- 
tion of the city, may have equal facilities 
and advantages of ingress and egress to the 
Government buildings in the various parts of 
the city, and especially to the national Capitol 
building. But, sir, so long as there remains 
a doubt about the boundaries of the Capitol 
grounds, so long will this beautiful part of the 
city remain unimproved to a certain extent, 
and unsought by investors in real estate. 

You will find, by passing around the two 
squares I have indicated, Nos. 687 and 688, 
that there is not a house which has been con- 
structed upon either of those squares since 
Congress authorized an assessment with a view 
of purchase. This plan of the extension of 
the grounds has hung over this property like 
a pall. The lots that are unimproved have 
remained vacant and useless to their owners, 
while houses have gone into dilapidation and 
decay, and have not produced a sufficient in 
come to warrant the owners in keeping them 
in even ordinary repair. Not only that, but 
the squares immediately opposite these, out- 
lying the present proposed limits to the Cap- 
itol grounds, have been affected by this same 
nusettled condition of affairs. Suppose that 
any man places a valuable improvement upon 
any one of these squares he may be said to do 
so to-day caveat emptor; so that if he puts an 
improvement there which would not be made 
with economy and prudence, he would be liable 
to loss in case the Goverument should dis- 
possess him. 



In his report to Congress, in 1861, the Uni- 
ted States district attorney said : 

" It may not be considered inappropriate to say 
that very many of the parties interested consider 
that they are justly entitled to a settlement of this 
matter at this session of Congress, as it has been in 
suspense for many years. They complain that they 
cannot rent their property for any fixed period of 
time, and that they feel unwilling to improve the 
vacant ground, or add to present improvements, in 
their state of uncertainty as to when the Gov- 
ernment may think proper to take it and at what 
prices." 

^ You know, sir, there is a proposition made to 
reduce the grade upon the east front of the 
Capitol, so as to give the building a greater 
elevation, and repair to some extent the mis- 
take which was made in locating the Capitol 
building where it now is, instead of placing it 
about the line of First street, east. The doubt 
which still obtains upon the point of reducing 
the grade has retarded improvements upon 
those squares which would be affected by that 
change, which outlie the limits to the Capitol 
grounds which I have described. I can state, 
I believe, without violaiingany confidence, that 
there is a proposition to build a mammoth 
hotel upon the square immediately east of the 
House wing of the capitol, fronting on First 
street east and the Capitol grounds. 

This proposed hotel is to be fitted up more 
particularly for the accommodation of mem- 
bers of Congress and their families, visitors to 
the national Capitol, and the traveling public; 
and that negotiation hangs to-day unclosed in 
consequence of the doubts resting upon this 
question. Within the last year a fine block of 
houses, costing hundreds of thousands of dol- 
lars, has been erected on East Capitol street 
by an enterprising citizen, and they are to- 
day imperiled by this question of the change 
of grade around the Capitol building; nor can 
that fine row of houses be provided safely 
with any pavement in front of them until this 
question of the grounds is settled, and the 
grade, which is a necessary question involved 
in the extension, is settled. 

There is this consideration which may be 
mentioned also : the march of improvement 
in this city will not wait a great while the 
tardy action of Congress in securing proper 
protection to the public buildings. Whether 
the United States will complete its necessary 
work or not, the citizens of the District, of 
Columbia propose to do their part of it, and 
this will involve necessarily a large expendi- 
ture of money upon Capitol Hill for improve- 
ments which will ultimately have to be changed 
by the action of Congress itself. Those im- 
provements must necessarily enhance the value 
of properly upon Capitol Hill, as they are en- 
hancing the value of property in the western 
portion of the city, and they cannot fail to 
have their effect upon this measure and the 
squares which it is proposed to take in ; 
so that while we may to-day or this summer 
purchase, by the consent of the property- 
owners, these squares at less than their actual 
value, and less than the maximum figures I 
have given, $500,000, I do not believe that 
they can be purchased a year or two hence for 



much less than double the sum, so that econ- 
omy would dictate their purchase at this time. 

The rapid growth of Capitol Hill will astonish 
any one who has not watched it for the last, five 
years. This growing population, comprising 
our intelligent and enterprising citizens, should 
not be cut off from other portions of the city, 
as they now are practically, by this impassable 
ground around trie Capitol. 

This, Mr. Speaker, is not a local improve- 
ment. It is not an improvement which will 
materially affect the property interests of the 
people of the District of Columbia. I do not 
speak upon this question as the representative 
alone of the people of the District of Colum- 
bia, but I urge this measure upon the House 
as of national importance. We should not 
only protect the public faith and the public 
credit, but we should protect the nation from 
the disgrace and humiliation which will attend 
a postponement of this question of completing 
the surroundings of the national Capitol build 
ing. You may expend from year to year, ten, 
fifteen, or twenty thousand dollars, as you have 
been doing, but as was truthfully said by the 
gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. Butler,] 
the other day, in the discussion which was 
sprung upon the House upon this question, 
those appropriations are made only to fill up 
the places which are made waste again by the 
storms of the fall and winter. 

I ask any gentleman here if he has perceived 
in the last ten years any material improvement 
in the grounds surrounding the Capitol build- 
ing. Our citizens are beautifying and build- 
ing up the city several squares from these 
grounds, but they dare not expend money 
where you desire it, and they desire, for fear 
it will be lost to them. I came in here to day, 
Mr. Speaker, somewhat unexpectedly to say a 
word upon this subject, because the House will 
be called upon to meet the issue probably dur- 
ing the coming week. The Senate has for sev- 
eral years, and almost with unanimity, insisted 
upon making a sufficient appropriation to pur- 
chase these two squares and complete these 
grounds, and year after year the House, from 
a sense of economy, and doubting probably the 
propriety of making the purchase, have struck 
out the appropriation. 

I hope that this year the usual opposition 
will not be made to this extension. I do 
not believe the time will ever come when 
the Government can better afford to make 



this purchase, and I trust there win be no 
more delay in the matter. I am looking 
into a not distant future which shall pre- 
sent in Washington a city that shall illustrate 
the great characteristics of our people. If 
ahe Government of the United States would 
pay to the authorities of the District of Co- 
lumbia its fair proportion of the tax upon its 
own property, we would make this city a great 
one and a beautiful one without further cost 
to the United States, and would agree also to 
make this purchase which I am now urging. 
On this near future the people whom I have 
the honor to represent propose to make their 
impress. We ask that the United States shall 
not retard us in that work by refusing to do 
that which all must see is a necessity, and for 
the doing of which the United States has itself 
given its pledge. 

Let us, then, no longer, while we point 
with pride to this great building, and exhibit 
to our friends and visitors its beauties and 
the glory of its architecture ; let us no longer 
be obliged, as we conduct them from this 
splendid monument to American taste, to 
apologize for the shabby, mean, and dis- 
graceful condition of its surroundings. 

This is not in any sense a sectional ques- 
tion, and those who favor this measure are the 
representatives of no section. The discussion 
which was sprung upon the House the other 
day developed in a few minutes the fact that 
it has the support of Representatives from 
ocean to ocean. I hope, then, that no lalse 
economy, that no dread of the responsibilities 
of the presidential year, that no possible and 
not probable effect on the reelection of any 
member of Congress; in short, that no per- 
sonal reasons, will be urged against the meas- 
ure at this time. 

I had hoped, Mr. Speaker, to have secured 
time from my other duties to have prepared 
with some care the reasons for making this 
extension of the Capitol grounds at this time, 
and I had thought of presenting them in con- 
nection with a bill for this purpose which I 
introduced at the beginning of the session. 
But the probability is that the question will 
have to be met, coming to us from the other 
branch of Congress, before the bill can be 
reported which I introduced. This, sir, is my 
apology for stating in this cursory and pos- 
sibly disjointed manner the reasons in support 
of this measure. 



Printed at the Congressional Globe Office. 



The District of Columbia. 



SPEECH 



OT 



HON. NORTON P. CHIPMAN, 



OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 



IN 



KEPLY TO HON. ROBERT B. ROOSEVELT, OF NEW YORK ; 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



JUNE 3, 1872. 



WASHINGTON: 
P. & J. RIVES & GEO. A. BAILEY, 

REPORTERS AND PRINTERS OP TUB DEBATES OP CONORESS. 

1872. 



The District of Columbia. 



The memorial of certain residents and tax-payers 
of the District of Columbia, complaining of alleged 
extravagance in the government of the District, 
having been referred to the Committee for the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, a majority and minority report 
were submitted. Mr. Roosevelt, who had signed 
the minority report condemning the acts of the 
District government, obtained leave to print some 
remarks i n favor of the resolution recommended by 
the minority. 

Mr. CHIPMAN obtained leave to print 
the following remarks in reply to Mr. Roose- 
velt: 

I had thought that upon the majority and 
minority renorts upon the testimony produced 
before the committee raised to investigate the 
affairs of the District of Columbia the judg- 
ment of Congress might be based, and that there 
would be no further occasion for incumbering 
the records of the Government in this matter; 
but the very extraordinary, and 1 think unne- 
cessary, speech of my colleague on the com- 
mittee [Mr. Roosevelt] compels me to go at 
some length into the merits of the case, and 
particularly to notice the glaring errors into 
which he has fallen and would lead the House, 
and to vindicate the officers of the District gov- 
ernment from the gratuitous and unwarranted 
assault which he makes upon them. I can 
understand how men may differ in their conclu- 
sions upon a given state of facts. I can also 
understand how men may differ as to what the 
facts are in a record of seven hundred and 
fifty pages ; but 1 cannot understand how a 
person who pretends to sit judicially can de- 
liberately write out a speech such as my col- 
league's. It is remarkable throughout, as well 
for its suppression of important facts, as for 
its statement of untruths. The committee of 
which he was a member knows that he was 
absent a great deal during the investigation, 
and especially while the evidence was being 
heard in defense, and before this evidence had 
been put in he had declared that he did not 



want to hear any more testimony, and became 
very impatient to close the investigation. 

It is not a pleasant thing to allude to these 
facts, but I think myself justified in staring 
them since he has opened an attack of such a 
character as to rob debate of all its amenities 
and has made it necessary to strip his speech 
of its high pretensions. 

A patient and an uninterrupted hearing was 
due the accused, as it was a trial for the very 
existence of our District government. This 
was not given by the judge whose opinion I 
am about to review, and this fact takes from 
it the weight of even dictum. 

I think it possible, as my colleague states, 
that he entered upon the investigation with 
some favorable impressions of our District 
government; but it was certainly manifest 
throughout the later part of the investigation 
that he lost his balance, unlike his colleague 
who joined in the minority report, [Mr. Crebs,] 
before the investigation was half over. 

It was early discoverable in the investiga- 
tion that he suspected, as the memorialists had 
charged, that there existed here a parallel be- 
tween the management of the District govern- 
ment and the mismanagement of the Tammany 
ring of New York, and being fresh from the 
work of overthrowing that tyranny, the present 
opportunity seemed to be a good one to sup- 
plement his reputation and give it a national 
character. 

I would not rob him of any of the laurels 
he won in New York. It was a virtuous act 
in him, having availed himself of the benefits 
of that ring, and having been let into its hid- 
den mysteries, to expose the corruption of 
those who had elevated him to position and 
join in the general cry of "Stop thief!" 

I commend him for that ; but when he sets 
his judgment up as the standard for official con- 
duct, and erects iu his imagination the coun- 
terpart of Tammany as existing in the District 
of Columbia, aud attempts by garbled extracts 
of testimony and misstatements upon his own 



responsibility to overthrow our local govern- 
ment, I think it my duty, in defense of the peo- 
ple whom I represent and the officers of the 
government of which I am a part, to defend 
them from such calumny. Let me endeavor 
to follow this remarkable speech and take up 
its points in order. 

FORM OP THE DISTRICT GOVERNMENT REVIEWED. 

He first reviews the organic act to show that 
the form of our government is what he terms 
a " mongrel affair," " neither flesh, nor fowl, 
nor good red herring;" that "the relation of 
the District of Columbia toward the national 
Government is changed;" the national prop- 
erty " converted into a Territory and given a 
territorial government instead of being under 
the charge of Congress as heretofore." He 
wholly misapprehends both the philosophy of 
the new government and the facts as to its 
powers. The relation of the District toward 
the national Government has not changed ; in 
no one particular is the national property 
affected by it. Congress retains the power to 
annul any of the acts of our Legislature, or to 
wipe out the local government utterly, as it did 
in abolishing the charters of our cities in 
establishing the new government. 

Not a foot of the national property is sub- 
ject to taxation or placed under the slightest 
control of the local government, except that 
the control of the streets and avenues was by 
the act turned over to the Board of Public 
Works as the agent of the national Govern- 
ment. Instead of going to Congress, as we 
heretofore did, for general legislation of a local 
character, Congress relieved itself by creating 
a Legislative Assembly with delegated powers, 
and authorized it to create such officers and 
pass such laws, with certain exceptions, as were 
necessary to operate the new government. 

I do not believe that a careful examination 
of the organic act will disclose any inharmouy, 
any necessary conflict of powers, any danger- 
ous or anomalous condition of things. I shall 
not analyze our organic act to show precisely 
the relation it established between the national 
and local governments; it was given to us by 
Congress after a careful and patient investiga- 
tion by the District Committees of the House 
and Senate, and after ample discussion as to 
its details and the theory upon which it was 
built. It may be improved — I think it can 
be — but it should at least have a fair trial, 
which it has never yet had, before beiDg tin- 
kered with by men who do not comprehend it. 

This much, at least, the evidence in the case 
will show : that the worst enemies of the new 
government concede in it a great improvement 
over the old, and there has been before the 
committee no one witness, however partisan 
and prejudiced, as I now remember, who 
desired to return to the old order of things. 

I quote from my colleague' s speech as follows : 
"Congress forced to order an Investigation. 

" The new government came into existence June 
1, 1871, and in January, 1872, at the end of only 



seven months, so scandalous had become the con- 
duct of the Board of Public Works, so loud the 
complaints and notorious their proceedings, that 
Congress was forced, on the demand of over a 
thousand citizens, to order this investigation." 

If my colleague had kuown, as we of the 
District know, something of the persistent 
opposition which has been made to the new 
government from its very inception, how it 
was pursued at every step, and that the com- 
plaints of which he speaks arid the "thousand 
citizens " whom he arrays in judgment against 
the District were the same which were mus- 
tered against the new government and de- 
termined to break it down even before it came 
into operation, he would not have drawn the 
conclusion he has — that this investigation was 
the growth of the " seven months' scandalous 
conduct of the Board of Public Works." Let 
me say to him that if he expects there shall 
ever be a government in this District, however 
honest and pure or however beneficial, against 
whom there will not be arrayed at least a 
"thousand citizens," then he knows little of 
human nature, and certainly less of the char- 
acter of our people. 

ORGANIZED OPPOSITION TO THE DISTRICT GOVERN- 
MENT. 

Perhaps I ought to reproduce at this point 
a little of the history of this struggle. Our 
organic act became a law in February, 1871, 
and early in March the Governor, Board of 
Public Works, and other appoiutive officers 
were qualified. They began at once to organ- 
ize the new government, so that at the expira- 
tion of the old charter, which by the act was 
to take place on the 1st of June, there should 
be no interregnum and no lack of power to 
carry on the necessary functions of the new 
government. Steps were immediately taken 
to call an election, so as to complete the Legis- 
lative Assembly by electing a house of dele- 
gates, the council having been appointed by 
the President. 

Meanwhile the Board of Public Works were 
devising a plan of improvements embracing 
the whole District of Columbia, and called 
into their councils an advisory board, com- 
posed of Quartermaster General Meigs, Sur- 
geon General Barnes, General Humphreys, 
chief of engineers, General Babcock, in charge 
of public buildings and grounds, and Mr. Olm- 
stead, one of the park commissioners of New 
York city. 

The plans were completed and the gen- 
eral outline approved by members of the 
advisory board. They involved an expendi- 
ture of about six million dollars, one third of 
which being paid by the property abutting on 
the streets, left $4,000,000 to be raised by the 
Legislature. Immediately upon the organiza- 
tion of the Legislature the Governor sent, in a 
message to that body submitting the plans 
and suggesting a loan of $4,000,000 by creat- 
ing a bonded debt to run for twenty years, 
payable by a sinking fund. This bold inno- 
vation upon the old-fashioned way of raising 



fK 



money from year to year, and expending it 
without plan or purpose, startled the "one 
thousand citizens," who, according to my col- 
league, embody all the wisdom and virtue the 
District possesses, and they organized to put 
down this reckless encroachment upon ancient 
custom and upon this annihilation of the 
delights of fogyism. 

Every effort was made to defeat the legisla- 
tion, but without success, and the law passed 
July 10, 1871. Work had already begun in 
anticipation of this loan, but was provided 
for by specific appropriation. Determined 
that the will of the people should not govern, 
a select number of these " thousand citizens" 
sued out an injunction soon after the act 
passed, and opened war iu the courts. The 
great body of the work was stopped at the 
very season when it could be most profitably 
carried on, and only a limited amount could 
be done under appropriations made for the 
purpose. 

The Legislature, not disposed to surrender the 
rights and interests of one hundred and thirty 
thousand citizens to the whims and prejudices 
of one thousand, passed another four million 
loan act to be submitted to the people. This 
passed August 19, 1871, but could not under 
the organic act be submitted sooner than No- 
vember 21 following. Then began one of the 
most relentless and bitter attacks that ever dis- 
graced a community. These "thousand citi- 
zens," aping New York, and thereby seeking 
also to throw around the canvass the infamy 
of the New York Tammany ring, organized a 
"committee of seventy." Some respectable 
names were put forward as officers of the Citi- 
zen Association, and other decent people con- 
sented to go on the "committee of seventy;" 
but the dirty, disgraceful work was performed 
by men who had neither social, business, nor 
official standing in the community. A libelous 
sheet was started called the Citizen, and was 
supported by the money of persons who had 
not the courage to be responsible for its man- 
agement. Every issue of the paper was full 
of abuse, mendacious atiacks upou our local 
government, and scarcely a column that did 
not contain actionable slanders; but its editor 
was wholly irresponsible, and as exempt from 
suit as any other sewer- pipe in the city. If he 
had been a heap of dung he could not have 
been more pestiferous, but as he had the form 
and semblance of man there was no known 
precedent for abating him as a nuisance. This 
paper, encouraged and fed by these "thousand 
citizens," solidified the ranks of those who fa- 
vored the loan and disgusted those who doubted 
the method of raising funds and preferred ap- 
propriations from year to year rather than by 
a bonded debt. The result was that when the 
vote came the "thousand citizens" and a few 
recruits, making twelve hundred and thirteen, 
voted against the loan and fourteen thousand 
seven hundred and sixty for it, while a large 
number remained away from the polls. These I 



were composed of two classes : one who favored 
the loan but knew there was no doubt of its 
ratification, and did not want to lose a day in 
registering and voting ; the other class, not by 
any means large, did not believe in the loan 
but believed in improvements and in the integ- 
rity of our officers, and were indignant at the 
means adopted to embarrass the new govern- 
ment. They could nor. vote for the loan, but 
they would not vote against it under the cir- 
cumstances. I believe if there ever was an 
election in this District where the will of the 
majority was expressed, and where the intelli- 
gent judgment of the people guided a vote, it 
was the election which gave our city its "new 
departure " last fall. 

A word more to show the mendacity of the 
opposition and the blind madness which led 
them even to stab the credit of the District 
rather than see it succeed. 

While this warfare was going on, and while 
we were tied up by injunctions, the Legislature 
authorized the Governor to anticipate the loan 
by borrowing $500,000. I quote from Gov- 
ernor Cooke's testimony, (page 378:) 

"Question. Can you state to the committee why you 
negotiated through the First National Bank rather 
than through other banking-houses that have been 
named 1 

"Answer. Yes, sir; because I got aid from them 
when I could not get it elsewhere. I applied for 
negotiating a very small loan, last summer, and had 
partially effected a negotiation for the money, at six 

£er cent., when rumors came of disaffection in the 
'istrict and efforts were made that impaired our 
credit. Papers were circulated throughout New 
York which frightened the bankers, and they de- 
clined to take it. The First National Bank came to 
my rescue, and I succeeded in negotiating the loan, 
though I had to pay seven per cent., which I con- 
sidered a very good negotiation, and it was so con- 
sidered at the time, without any commission or 
discount." 

The injunction was dissolved, on appeal to 
the full bench, about the time the people rati- 
fied the loan, and there seemed to be no 
further impediment, but these " thousand cit- 
izens" still kept up their warfare here and 
elsewhere. To show still further the charac- 
ter of the opposition, I quote from a letter of 
the Messrs. Seligman, (page 192:) 

New York, February 1, 1872. 
Dkar Sir : We beg to draw your attention to the 
fact that while we have been successful in market- 
ing the six per cent, bonds of the District of Colum- 
bia, we have had to overcome one or more difficul- 
ties in the shape of adverse reports which some 
persons had endeavored to spread in Europe. They 
first intimated that there were injunctions still 
existing against the issue of the bonds. After we 
succeeded in removing this impression by sending 
out the certificate of judges of the supreme court 
that each and every injunction had promptly been 
removed, they endeavored to spread additional ad- 
verso reports in Europe, stating that the bond was 
not considered a first-class security. We have, for- 
tunately, been able to satisfy the public in Europe 
that all such reports, emanating, as they evidently 
did, from persons adverse to the interests of the 
District, were without any foundation. But the 
principal aid which we received was the almost 
unanimous vote of the people of your District in 
favor of the loan, without which we should have 
probably failed in negotiating the bond at all, and, 
at any rate, would not have been able to sell it 



6 



within two and a half or five per cent, of the price 
obtained, and we congratulate you and the District 
upon our success in placing the credit of theDistrict 
equal to that of any of the older States in the North. 
We deem it proper to make these remarks to you 
to put you and all good people of the District on 
their guard against the malevolent actions of some 
of your citizens. 

We are, dear sir, yours, very respectfully, 

J. & W. SELIGMAN & CO. 
Hon. Henry D. Cooke. Governor of the District of 

Columbia, Washington, D. C. 

Thus these men pursued the government 
here and abroad, trying by falsehood to ruin 
its credit in the money markets of the world, 
and by misrepresentation and calumny to 
shake the confidence of the people in it at 
home. Defeated and rebuked wherever they 
turned, they appealed to Congress as a last 
resort, with a result already known. And 
after this appeal and the petition were re- 
ferred to a committee for investigation, a sen- 
sational resolution was prepared by oue of 
these "thousand citizens," and caused to be 
introduced in the Senate, suspending the func- 
tions of the District government pending the 
investigation, thus paralyzing the District and 
destroying for the time all government. Nor 
will my colleague forget that all winter and 
pending the investigation there were laid upon 
members' desks the meanest possible anony- 
mous circulars and sheets, attacking the gov- 
ernment itself, and especially its personnel, 
and every etfort was made by personal inter- 
course with members to poison their minds 
against the District. 

If my colleague had desired to dip his pen 
in unadulterated wormwood and gall, if he 
had desired to relieve bis mind of pent-up 
wrath by writing a philippic against some im- 
aginary Tammany, he would have found an 
ample field here in showing how a good gov- 
ernment and an honest devotion to it may be 
maligned until even the elect, like my colleague, 
may be deceived and grow bilious in contem- 
plating it. 

My colleague proceeds with his indictment 
as follows: 

"Of the most flagrant acts I shall select only a 
few for consideration, commencing with the grad- 
ing of F street from Seventeenth to Twenty-first 
street, west of the President's grounds. This street 
has been cut down from two to twelve feet, involv- 
ing a proportional grading of the cross-streets and 
of G slreet, which is the parallel street north of it, 
and leaving the houses erected along the lines of 
all tluse elevated from five to fifteen or twenty steps 
above the sidewalk and roadway." 

I cannot follow the gentleman through all 
the mental vagaries his speech contains. I 
shall expose his fallacies sufficiently far to 
show how dangerous it would be to base any 
judgment of District affairs upon his opinion, 
and that done, I may be content to leave the 
matter with the majority and minority report, 
where it really belongs. Let us then see what 
there is of the 

F STREET IMPROVEMENT. 

This work was originally commenced under 
an act passed by the corporation of Washing- 



ton on the 25th April, 1871. At that time the 
new government had not gone fully into oper- 
ation, although by the organic act the Board 
of Public Works were authorized to assume 
the functions of their office. Technically there 
is no question but that the board, as the suc- 
cessors to the executive power of the mayor, 
were authorized to enter upon the execution 
of this act of the corporation, and they did so. 
The contractor for the work was Mr. Van- 
derburgh, and his authority for entering upon 
it the board found in the archives of the 
mayor's office, as follows: 

Mayor's Office, City Hall, 
Washington, D. C, April 2^, 1871. 
Mr. Auditor: Please issue order to J. V. W. 
Vanderburgh to proceed with the work under his 
contract of April 29. 1871, to grade and trim F street 
northwest between Seventeenth and Twentieth. 
Act approved April 25, 1871. 

M. G. EMERY, Mayor. 
Per M. P. 

Auditor's Office, City Hall, 
Washington, D. 0., April 29, 1871. 
Sir: You will execute the act of the corporation 
approved April 25, 1871. entitled "An act to grade 
and trim F street northwest between Seventeenth 
and Twentieth streets," under your contract of 
April 29, 1871. The work to be commenced within 

days, and completed within days from the 

date thereof. 

J. C MeKELDEN, Auditor. 
J. S. C, jr. 
J. V. W. Vanderburgh, esq., Contractor. 

The amount appropriated was $600. (Rec- 
ord, pages 31, 32.) 

It is neither truthful nor ingenuous to say 
that the work on Fand G streets, Seventeenth, 
Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twen- 
ty-first streets, aud the filling up of streets 
south of F street, were all done under authority 
of this act of the corporation of Washington. 

The gentleman from New York says: 

" The cutting down of F street is justified under a 
resolution of the old city councils, passed in the time 
of Mayor Emery and just before the new govern- 
ment was established." 

No such justification is attempted that I 
am aware of. The history and reason for 
this improvement are so well aud clearly and 
briefly stated by the surveyor of the District, 
Mr. William Forsyth, then the assistant engi- 
neer of the board, that 1 quote from him, (pages 
43, 44 of the record : 

"The work on the improvement of F street was 
comuifcnced under the order of the city government 
of Washington, in pursuance of the act of that cor- 
poration approved April 29, 1871, as appears by the 
copies of papers in the two communications of Gov- 
ernor Cooke to the District Legislature of May 31 
and June 20, 1871. (Journal, volume one, pages 93 
and 197.) 

"I was superintendent of streets under the city 
government, and also became the first assistant 
engineer of the Board of Public Works, May 17, 
1871, and prepared for the board the general plan 
of improvements submitted June 2d, IS* 1. 

"I took charge of the F street work when it com- 
menced, and in accordance with the directions of 
the board 1 instructed the contractor, Mr. Vander- 
burgh, to lower the line of the street belnw the 
grade contemplated when the act of April 29 was 
passed. At a later period the board decided tc 



lower the line to the present grade, and I gave 
directions to the contractor accordingly. 

•'The change of grade as finally determined was 
thought advisable, among other reasons, in order to 
conform the grade of Seventeenth street to the new 
State Department buildings. It also relieves the 
steep grades on Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nine- 
teenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-first streets, be- 
tween F street and the canal, by cutting down the 
summits and filling up the low ground at a regular 
grade, thereby removing in a great measure the 
uuhealthfulness of that section of the city, which 
has been an obstacle to all improvements for the 
twenty-three years during which I have resided 
there. 

"The change also greatly improves the surface 
drainage of that vicinity. It does not interfere with 
the sewers constructed by the city government, 
which I had located below the present grade-line 
of the streets, because, from my knowledge of the 
necessities of that section, I was certain that the 
grades of the streets would eventually be brought 
down to an improved line. 

" In my opinion, the improvement will be a suc- 
cess, and, when finished, I believe the property- 
owners will be very glad it has been carried through, 
at' owners have been in other localities where they 
have made great complaints and doleful predictions 
while the work has been going on, like the cases of 
the old improvements under the city, while I was 
surveyor, on Ninth street, between D and F; Thir- 
teenth street, between G and H; F street, between 
Seventh and Fifteenth; and Fifteenth street, at the 
Treasury Department. 

"No additional written instructions to or contract 
with Mr. Vanderburgh appear to have been issued. 
The act of the city, in terms, authorized the grading 
of the street, and, acting under directions of the 
Board of Public Works, which authorized and 
assumed the responsibility of extending the im- 
provement, I carried forward the same substantially 
in accordance with their general plans then adopted 
for the improvement of the District." 

My colleague gropes about in the records to 
ascertain why this improvement of this part of 
the city was made, and although there were 
probably twenty witnesses who gave opinions 
as to the reasons for the change, he says: 

"For all this injury of course it will be expected 
that some great gain was to compensate; but what 
will be the surprise of all who hear me when they 
ate told that to this day nobody knows why the 
change of grade was made." 

I might refute the gentleman who denounces 
this improvement as ''an act of supreme folly ;" 
who estimates the damage to property at ''half 
a million dollars;" who speaks of it as pro- 
ducing "ruin;" who, in another place, estimates 
the public and private damage of what he terms 
"this remarkable and indefensible perform- 
ance" as " little short of one million dollars," 
and the excuse for it a3 " little less than ludi- 
crous" — I say I might refute him by quoting 
a few paragraphs from the testimony. For 
example, Doun Piatt testifies, (page 317:) 

"Question. How have the improvements in that 
neighborhood affected that property, in your opin- 
ion? 

"Annoer. I think it has benefited the property; 
indeed. I know it has. Since the improvement 
there has been made, my wife has been offered 
81,000 for her bargain. During the last summer 
we had in view two pieces of property to select 
from: one owned by Captain (iraut on Capitol Hill, 
ami the other this piece of property of Mr. Shep- 
herd's. At that time we rather inclined to the 
property otfered by Captain Grant, as it was on the 
same terms, on account of the condition of the cel- 
lar of the house on F street, which was damp, and 
the water evidently stood in it in the wet season. 



They had dug quite a well in the hope of draining 
the property. Since the street has been improved 
by cutting it down, the cellar is entirely dry and the 
appearance of the property has been greatly en- 
hanced in every way, so that I think any stranger 
visiting the city would regard F street as one of the 
most beautiful streets in the city." 

General 0. E. Babcock testifies, (page 631:) 

"Quextion. In regard to the grade on F street and 
the lateral streets ; have yon observed the grades 
there? 

".Answer. Yes, sir. 

" Question. Will you state your opinion as to the 
present grade, whether you think it is a proper 
one? 

"Ansicer. I am of the conviction that it is the 
grade which should have been established years 
before. I think if there is any mistake in this ques- 
tion it is in the legislation. The problem given to 
the Board of Public Works has been one of engineer- 
ing. I think that the people would notobjectto these 
improvements, if there had been legislation to pro- 
vide remuneration for damages in full, and I think 
that the complaints raised arise from the fact that 
this was not provided for by legislation. Consider- 
ing it simply as a question of grade, for the purpose 
of drainage, the circulation of the atmosphere and 
easy communication, and the ornamentation of the 
city, I think the grade is the one that should be 
established there. As an illustration : going along 
Pennsylvania avenue you can now look right down 
these cross-streets to the river. It makes a beau- 
tiful effect in that way, which should be taken into 
consideration in the establishment of the grades of 
the city. 

" Question. Would not the grade have been more 
desirable for the purpose if it had not been cut down 
quite so much? 

"Answer. I do not think you could have accom- 
plished this without making it as deep as it is. 

" Question. What has been the effect, in your 
judgment, up to the present time, of the improve- 
ments in that section upon the value of the prop- 
erty in that vicinity? 

"Ansicer. I believe it will increase the value of the 
property. That is my feeling in regard to a small 
piece of property that i bought there before the 
improvements were commenced. The mass of the 
property is unimproved." 

But I leave my colleague to defend him- 
self against manifest ignorance or perversion 
of the facts in the face of the plain, blunt truth, 
given by a plain, blunt, honest man, who owns 
property affected by the change, who has lived 
in that neighborhood many years, who is a 
practical surveyor and engineer, Mr. William 
Forsyth, as already quoted. 

THIS IMPROVEMENT NOT A NEW IDEA. 

Another fact in this connection must not 
be overlooked. The grade as now established 
for this part of the city is no new idea, and 
if my colleague had been disposed to do the 
board justice he would have made some men- 
tion of the fact. The original plans for this 
improvement were the production of Ran- 
dolph (Joyle, one of the oldest and most highly 
respected public officers the city ever had. 
These plans were brought before the commit- 
tee and identified by Mr. Forsyth, who has had 
them in charge since they were made. The 
work was actually commenced nearly twenty 
ypars ago, and would have been completed 
upon the very plans adopted by the Board of 
Putdic Works but for an injunction sued out, 
which Mr. (Joyle did not seem to have the 
courage to push to final decision, as our board 



8 



had when interrupted by a similar proceed- 
ing. (Record, page 724.) 

The extent of this improvement, its cost, 
and the severe criticism to which it has been 
subjected by my colleague, are my justifica- 
tion for giving the testimony fully upon this 
point. I extract from pages 669, 670 : 

" Question. Have you the old plan of the grade of 
F street ? 
"Answer, Yes, [producing it.] 

"Mr. Chandler stated to the committee that the 
plan proposed was signed by Mr. Randolph Coyle, 
and he read the following extract from a note at the 
loot of the plan: 

" ' The resolution of the corporation which referred 
this matter to me restricted my examination to F 
street, and thence south to the canal, and to the 
streets from Seventeenth to Nineteenth, both inclu- 
sive. The changes suggested in F street can be con- 
sidered as an independent proposition. They con- 
stitute a valuable but expensive improvement, the 
adoption of whiuh, though very desirable, is not 
indispensable to the rest of the plan. At the junc- 
tion of F and Seventeenth, however, I think the 
change should be insisted on.' 
" Question. Can you state the age of this plan ? 
"Answer. There is uo date to it. It was prepared 
while Mr. Coyle was corporation surveyor. 

" Question. Do you understand it to be apian pre- 
pared by Mr. Randolph Coyle ? 

"Answer. Yes ; it has been filed in the surveyor's 
office. 

" Question. State the cutting indicated on the plan, 
at F and Seventeenth streets. 
"Answer. Three feet from these figures. 
" Mr. Crane. I object to the introduction of such 
a document, covered all over with pencil-marks. It 
was stated by Mr. Shepherd the other day. that he 
could tell nothing by the grade-books or grade-maps, 
they are marked over so many times. 

" Mr. Chandler. The older it is, and the more 
covered with marks it is. the better. I also put in 
this plan, signed by Mr. Randolph Coyle, and dated 
Washington, November 13, 1855 : 
"By Mr. Chipman : 
"Question. Are these plans on file as original 
plans? 

"Answer. Yes, sir; they are taken from the sur- 
veyor's office. 

"Question. Have they been changed by anybody 
in your office, that you are aware of? 
"Answer. No, sir; we never use them. 

" By Mr. Roosevelt : 
"Question. How do you know that this is the map 
prepared by Mr. Coyle? 

"Answer. I heard so from Mr. Forsyth. There is 
nothing on it to show. 

"Question. Bid you make up the estimates of 
expenses for the city, generally? 

"Answer. No, sir; I made up some of them; not 
all. 

"Question. What was the meaning of this deduc- 
tion of twenty per cent, for cash on these esti- 
mates ? 

"Answer. These were prepared before I had con- 
nection with the board. 

"Question. Did that, in your judgment, indicate 
the difference in the value of the old city certifi- 
cates and ready money, or cash? 

"Answer. I am not prepared to make any state- 
ment on that point. . 

" Mr. Chandler read and put in evidence the in- 
dorsement of Mr. Coyle, on the profile of Seven- 
teenth street, as follows : 

Washington City, November 13, 1855. 
Sir: I have constructed, for your information, 
this plan and profile of Seventeenth street west, 
from Pennsylvania avenue to the canal, on which 
I have shown the grades from the south side of New 
York avenue to tue canal, recommended by me to 
the corporation several years ago; and also, as I 
understand it, the grade established by an act of the 
corporation passed in September last. The blue 
grade-line is that which I recommended. The red 
grade-line is that which the corporation enacted. 



The black line, shaded thus -j — /— / — /- shows the 
surface of the ground along the middle of the street, 
as it was when, in compliance with the special re- 
quest of the corporation, I made my examination 
and report. There is in the city surveyor's office a 
map which accompanied my report, showing the ad- 
jacent streets and their grades, which will give you a 
more comprehensive view of the subject than can be 
had from this isolated plan. This, being drawn on a 
much larger scale, conveys a clearer idea of the par- 
ticular locality. I hope it will be satisfactory to you. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

RANDOLPH COYLE. 
John T. Towers, esq., Mayor. 

"Mr. Crane remarked that there was nothing to 
show that there was any act of the corporation 
authorizing this grade, and no evidence that the 
plan was signed by Randolph Coyle. 

"Mr. Chandler remarked that it came from the 
archives of the city. 

" Mr. Crane, after inspecting the memorandum 
above quoted, expressed the opinion that it was in 
Mr. Coyle's writing." 

We have, then, the living and the dead 
testifying to the value and importance of this 
improvement. 

But my colleague is guilty not only of mis- 
representing the facts he states, and suppress- 
ing others more important in the particulars 
which I have mentioned, but he sums up in a 
paragraph a most remarkable combination of 
errors which I deem it my duty to unmask. I 
quote from his speech as follows: 

" Whether there was actual corruption in this 
proceeding I will leave to inference. No money was 
paid for it to my knowledge. We can presume it 
was a,n act of supreme folly if we would be very 
charitable. It is true that the vice president of the 
Board of Works, who was mainly iustrumental in 
having the work commenced, (page 14,) owned a 
valuable row of houses on the street, and they alone 
of all the property affected were benefited, but this 
may have only been a coincidence — a strange one, 
and fortunate for the owner, but still only a coinci- 
dence." ******** 

" In this case, however, there was no benefit what- 
ever, but simple, unrelieved injury instead, not a 
single independent resident on either street approv- 
ing of the change or failing to reprobate and de- 
nounce it." 

My colleague sat as a judge, if at all — not 
as an advocate, nor as a champion of the thou- 
sand memorialists. He has no right to leave 
anything to inference. To do it is as cowardly 
as it is unjust. This House wants the truth, 
not inferences. He does not say that the ques- 
tion of corruption is matter of inference only; 
but he says, "I leave to inference," &c. The 
Board of Public Works are entitled to fair 
treatment at the hands of its judges, and I 
submit that such reckless use of power by one 
who stands in the relation my colleague does 
is wholly improper and reprehensible. What 
are the facts ? The inference which my col- 
league would draw or the corruption which 
he insinuates lies (I mean the corruption in- 
sinuated, not my colleague) in a total suppres- 
sion of the facts. I would not pursue the 
matter if my colleague had not compelled it. 
1 quote from Mr. Shepherd's testimony, (pages 
581 and 582:) 

"By Mr. Chandler: 
" Question. State with reference to the F street 
improvement. State the history of it, and what 
your opinion is with reference to its effect on prop- 



erty in that vicinity, and between F street and the 
river. 

"Answer. I have already stated, in my examina- 
tion by the other side, what my opinion is. At first 
I was bitterly opposed to the improvement; but 
after examining the matter thoroughly I became 
convinced that it was the only thing that would 
reclaim and redeem that section of the city. 

'" Question. The charge has been made that that 
improvement had a distinct referencg to the benefit 
and improvement of your property on that street. 

"Answer. That is a lie out of whole cloth. That 
is the way I answer that question. 

"By Mr. Harmer: 

" Question. When that street was cut down it was 
necessary to make costly improvements in front of 
the property. Was that made at your cost? 

"Answer. Yes, sir, even? dollar of it. The houses 
were about finished before the cutting began. As a 
consequence I was deprived of the rent of them for 
six or eight months, and besides had to pay the 
whole expense from my own pocket. 

" Question. In improving the front of other prop- 
erty on the line of that street, is that done at the 
cost of the Board of Public Works, or of the indi- 
vidual owners? 

"Answer. That is a matter to be determined. I 
think that where property is damaged there should 
be a betterment law by which the benefits and dam- 
ages may be assessed. Where tlie cutting is 30 deep 
as to seriously damage the property, both benefits 
and damages have to be taken into consideration. 

"Question. Has the Board of Public Works the 
power now to do that? 

"Answer. No, sir. 

" Question. You have power to determine what 
shall be treated as a special improvement to the 
property-owners ? 

"Answer. That will require further legislation. 

" Question. You say that you opposed the lower- 
ing of the grade on F street. Do you mean that 
you opposed any lowering of the grade ? 

"Answer. I wanted the street trimmed down, and 
had a bill passed by the councils appropriating $600 
to have it trimmed eighteen inches or two feet. I 
supposed that that sum would be ample to do the 
work. 

" Question. State whether or not at that time you 
had any intention of lowering the grade to the point 
to which it is now lowered. 

"Answer. None at all; not the slightest idea of it. 

"Question. When was the idea first adopted of 
lowering the grade? 

"Answer. When Mr. Forsyth came to see me one 
day, and told me of the original grade of the street 
as established by Mr. Kandolph Uoyle. He stated 
the fact that about seventeen years before he had 
attempted to carry out the present grade, but was 
stopped by an injunction originated by a Mr. Mc- 
Kean, who lived on Seventeenth street. That was 
after the board was in operation. 

" By Mr. Eldredge : 

" Question. What was the condition of your houses 
at the time the lowering of the grade was determ- 
ined upon? 

"Answer. They were finished. 

" Question. How are those houses now with refer- 
ence to that grade; how are the water-tables with 
reference to it? 

"Answer. Instead of having eight or ten steps as 
I contemplated, the highest has now twenty-one or 
twenty-two steps. 

h "By Mr.HAKMER: 

" Question. Is the lower floor of your houses as far 
above the grade of the street as other houses on the 
line of the street? 

" Answer. Pretty nearly ; probably Mr. Lenthall's 
house is a little higher than mine; the cutting was 
deeper there; the hump in the street was greater at 
that point. 

" By Mr. Eldredge : 

" Question. Are your houses constructed as they 
should have been if the grade had been determined 
upon at the time when you commenced to build 
them? 

"Ans-w.r. Certainly not : I should have saved from 



eight to ten thousand dollars if the grade had been 
established before I commenced to build. 

" Question. State wherein they would have been 
differently constructed. 

"Answer. I should not have incurred the expense 
of terracing; I would have had another finished 
story to the houses at, less expense, and avoided 
steps, which cost from seven to eight thousand dol- 
lars. 

" Question. What difference would you have made 
in the formation of the houses themselves? 

" Answer. I would not have set them so high from 
the ground as to require twenty-one steps to reach 
them; I would have set them down so as to reach 
them by eight or ten steps, as the original plan, 
drawn by Mr. Morsell, shows. 

" Question. How long ago did you purchase that 
property? 

"Answer. I have owned the property some eight- 
een months or two years, and commenced the houses 
about two or three or four months after the pur- 
chase. 

" Question. What did you pay for that property ? 

"Answer. I paid for one hundred and fifty or one 
hundred and seventy feet of it eighty-five cents a 
foot, and for the other sixty feet I paid sixty cents. 

" Question. Who owns the property exactly oppo- 
site yours? 

" Answer. Mr. Alexander did own it. 

" Question. Is that unimproved property? 

" Answer. Yes. 

" Question. How much is it worth a foot? 

" Answer. I think it would be low at one dollar a 
foot. 

Did my colleague hear this testimony ; or 
has he read it; or does he doubt the veracity 
of the witness? Will he still insist upon his 
inference? Will he insinuate what he has not 
the courage to assert? Let me tell him what 
a life-time friend of this witness said on the wit- 
ness-stand. I quote (page 694) the testimony 
of Dr. John B. Blake. His name is the syn- 
onym of honesty here, and one word of his 
in this community is worth more than a mil- 
lion of my colleague's insinuations. 

"Question. Do you know Mr. Shepherd? 

"Answer. Intimately. 

"Question. How long have you known him? 

"Answer. I knew his father and mother long 
before he was born. 

"Question. Are you disposed in any way to ques- 
tion the integrity of his actions? 

"Answer. I should as soon think of questioning 
my own integrity. 

"Question. You think he is above suspicion? 

"Answer. I think so. He ought to be, from my 
knowledge of him." 

Dr. Blake is not the friend of this District 
government. On the contrary he has opposed 
its plans of improvement, and has contributed 
of his means to carry on the measures of 
obstruction to this government. 

But the contradiction to my colleague's in- 
sinuation does not rest alone upon Mr. Shep- 
herd's testimony. The evidence of other mem- 
bers of the board and of numerous witnesses 
shows that in the small paragraph which I have 
quoted from my colleague he is grossly unjust 
in his inference, and that the paragraph con- 
tains at least four palpable, and if I were as 
reckless as my colleague in deriving inferences 
I might say willfully stated errors. Let me 
articulate these errors: 

First. I have shown that the improvement 
was not an act of supreme folly. 

Second. My colleague cites page 14 to show 



10 



that Mr. Shepherd was mainly instrumental in 
having the work commenced, but page 14 gives 
the testimony of Mayor Emery to show the one 
thing which all admit, that Mr. Shepherd was 
instrumental in having an appropriation of 
$600 made by the corporation to trim F street. 
The subsequent improvement, against which 
complaint is made, was not thought of until 
long after, and was opposed at first by Mr. 
Shepherd himself. 

Third. The statement of my colleague that 
Mr. Shepherd's houses were the only ones 
benefited is wilder than any witness, however 
prejudiced against the board, had the hardi- 
hood to testify. This part of my colleague's 
speech only shows how a prosecuting attorney 
may let his imagination run away with the tes- 
timony and overreach himself in the extrava- 
gance of his presentation of it. I suppose my 
friend had some dim recollection of some tes- 
timony given some time in the early part of the 
winter by a group of pleasant old gentlemen 
who have lived for the past quarter of a century 
in that quiet and unfrequented part of Wash- 
ington which the Board of Public Works and 
my friend have brought so prominently into 
public notice. But if he had reviewed the tes- 
timony, or had been more scrupulous in stating 
the facts, he would not have done Mr. Shep- 
herd the injustice he has. I will quote from 
the testimony of Columbus Alexander, (page 
27,) who is a fair specimen of this group: 

" By Mr. Roosevelt : 

"Question. In this sale which you have made, is 
the purchaser to pay the tax for the improvements? 

"Answer. Yes. 

" Question. Do you think that Mr. Shepherd's prop- 
erty is improved? 

" Ansxoer. I think his property is very much 
improved ; more so than anybody else's on the 
street." 

If my colleague had really, as he says in his 
speech, entertained at the beginning favorable 
opinions of the board, he would not have 
dropped this witness at this point, as he did. 
The witness had just stated that he owned 
vacant property immediately opposite Mr. 
Shepherd's, and it was already manifest from 
the testimony that the grading improved the 
vacant property much more than that upon 
which houses were already built. Mark the 
contrast now between the examination of this 
witness by my colleague, Mr. Roosevelt, 
and his examination by my colleague, Mr. 
Eldredge, who followed the investigation 
with a manifest determination to go to the 
bottom of the charges: 
" By Mr. Eldredge : 

"Question. How is it as to your property exactly 
opposite Shepherd's — is that improved ? 

"Ansxoer. I do not think it is. 

" Question. Why is it not as much improved as 
Mr. Shepherd's? 

"Answer. Shepherd's is cut down and terraced. 

" Question. When yours is cut down and terraced, 
will it not be as much improved as Shepherd's? 

"Answer. No; mine is on the wrong side of the 
street; I think that property on the other side is 
more valuable. 

" Question. Will not the improvements appreciate 
that as much in proportion as Shepherd's? 



"Answer. I do not think it will exactly; it mav, 
perhaps. 

" Question. If not, why not? 

"Answer. I do not say that it has not improved it 
proportionately. 

" Question. It was not worth as much originally 
as Shepherd's? 

" Answer. I do not think that his was worth any 
more. 

_" Question. I suppose you meant that the opposite 
side of the sti*et was more valuable ? 

" Answer. Rather more desirable, and perhaps 
some people think it a little more valuable. 

" Question. Aside from that, is not your property, 
exactly opposite his, as much improved, propor- 
tionately, as his ? 

"Answer. It may be. 

" Question. What is your opinion ? 

"Ansxoer. That is my opinion. 

" Question. Do you not think yourself that the 
property on that street has been appreciated in 
value by the improvements, take all together? 

"Answer. It may be so. 

" Question. That is your opinion ? 

"Answer. My opinion is, that I cannot see much 
difference in the value, judging from what I have 
asked for the property heretofore. 

" Question. Is it your opinion that the value of 
property in the whole street has improved or not ? 

"Answer. I cannot see that it has increased in 
value." 

Here is a witness called by the memorialists, 
who, in a short paragraph, explodes at least 
two of the imaginary charges of my colleague, 
and illustrates how the truth may be brought 
to the light or smothered just as the interro- 
gator is disposed to develop or obscure it. 

But numerous as are the proofs that this 
charge of my colleague is purely imaginative, 
I shall make but one more quotation from the 
testimony, which, while it settles the question, 
at the same time shows how much Mr. Alex- 
ander was mistaken, as well as my colleague. 
I quote from the testimony of K. M. Hall, 
(page 640,) who was Mr. Alexander's agent for 
the sale of this very property : 

" Question. Have sales been made at higher figures ? 

" Answer. Yes, sir; I know of one on that famous 
F street improvement. I had that property of Col- 
onel Alexander's a year ago, opposite Mr. Shep- 
herd's buildings, and offered it for sale for some time 
at sixty cents. I had written authority from him to 
sell at. that price. I suppose it was three months in 
my possession at that price. He afterward took it 
into his own possession, and I understand he has 
since bargained for it for one dollar a foot. I found 
no purchaser. I do not know when he sold it. It 
was since the street was cut down. I tried to sell it, 
but there was no application for it. I also had prop- 
erty on Connecticut avenue, which I offered for some 
time for fifteen cents. It has been sold recently lor 
twenty-five cents." * ***** 
" By Mr. Elduedge : 

"Question. When was that property of Colonel 
Alexander, on F street, sold? 

"Answer. It was after the improvements com- 
menced. He declined to sell it at the price for which 
he had previously offered it. Up to that time he was 
ready to sell it for sixty cents a foot. I think it was 
sold two or three months ago ; since these improve- 
ments commenced, certainly." 

Fourth. The fourth misrepresentation which 
I notice in the paragraph just quoted from my 
colleague is that not a single independent res- 
ident on either street approved of the change 
or failed to reprobate and denounce it. A 
sufficient answer to this is found in the testi- 
mony of General Babcock, already quoted, 
(pages 631, 632.) 



11 



It is not calculated to elevate the standard 
of morals in this House to find one of its mem- 
bers, who is just now building largely on his 
reputation for unearthing municipal corrup- 
tion, and is supposed to possess most of the 
cardinal virtues, so ready to ride to higher 
fan e at the expense of truth. The role of re- 
former is truly a grand one in these times of 
dishonesty ; but no man can achieve greatness 
in this character without having some small 
capacity to discriminate between the true and 
the false. 

I think no one can read the testimony in the 
record and not come to the conclusion that 
the improvement known as F street improve- 
ment was of great advantage to that portion 
of the city, and certainly no one who will take 
the trouble to make an ocular examination can 
come to any other conclusion. That quarter 
of the city will be remembered as one of the 
most unattractive and unsightly and disagree- 
able of all those portions which pretend to 
have been improved. Its unhealthiness has 
been proverbial. South of F street was an un- 
developed portion of the city, low and marshy, 
and for the purposes of residence totally worth- 
less. The grading has not only improved the 
streets which we have been examining, but the 
earth taken into this lower ground has brought 
into market these swamps and marshes, ren- 
dering them less unhealthy; and that whole 
part of the city is fast emerging into a valua- 
ble quarter for residences. As an evidence of 
this, the Superintendent of Public Buildings 
and Grounds has obtained from Congress an 
appropriation to fence and improve the public 
square lying south of F street aud west of Sev- 
enteenth, where hitherto no one would think 
of residing and where property had no appre- 
ciable value. Lots fronting upon that pro- 
posed square cannot now be bought probably 
for less than fifty to seventy -five cents a foot 
that two years ago could have beeu bought for 
fifteen cents. 

The improvement has been an expensive 
one, and the only practical question in this 
cdhnection is whether it was wise. The only 
pointof any significance which I have thought 
would be made against the board for this im- 
provement is whether the value of the property 
in that vicinity of the city would justify so 
large an expenditure in bringing it forward, 
aud I was inclined to a negative opinion upon 
this question utitil there was produced before 
the committee an abstract showing the assessed 
value of real estate lying south of Pennsylvania 
avenue and west of Seventeenth street, giving 
a total assessment of §4,215,551. (Page 679.) 

Furthermore, I believe it is a fair deduction 
from the testimony that the property in that 
part of the city will be enhanced by this im- 
provement in one year more than euough to 
replace the cost of it. 

MISCELLANEOUS MUBBISH DISPOSED OF. 

Leaving the F street improvement I cannot 



follow the gentleman in the next two or three 
pages of his flights of fancy. His description 
of the board "filling streets to the depth of 
thirty feet; " "burning houses to their roofs ; " 
" rendering worthless squares upon square* 
of dwellings and stores; " cutting down into 
the "bowels of the earth;" leaving Ileuses 
" perched upon pinnacles;' 1 "converting the 
mountainous country of Georgetown into a 
prairie," all of which " is a mere dead waste, 
a piece of heartless and blind cruelty " — I say 
I cannot follow him, for he must know that it 
is outside the record, and with the exception 
of individual instances of grading up or cut- 
ting down, where the evidence shows it was 
justified, there is absolutely no testimony from 
which to draw the appalling picture. Then 
follows another picture, equally fanciful, iu 
which it is attempted to show that the voters 
were brought up to the polls " in squads like 
a herd of hogs;" "threatened with punish- 
ment if they did not vote as they were or- 
dered ;" paid "• twenty-five cents each if they 
did as they were told; " that this "'suffrage 
was a lie," a "cheat," a "game," a "fraud," 
a " method for ruining the white man and 
Keiziug his property;" and all this tirade is 
based upon an extiact taken from the testi- 
mony of Mr. P. H. Ehiuehatt, (page 274 of 
the record,) and what is that testimony? Let 
any one read it as the gentleman quotes it, aud 
see it' it justifies any such attack upon the 
privileges accorded to our voters. The testi- 
mony was drawn out by the gentleman himself 
upon his own examination of the witness, and 
if my colleague had been disposed to look in 
any fairness upon this investigation, or to en- 
deavor to develop the truth, he never would 
have quoted this testimony to sustain his fear- 
ful indictment. The witness is questioned as 
follows: 

" Question. You had no safe information yourself? 

" Anstoer. No, sir. 

" Question. Do you know whether any intimida- 
tion or threats were used to compel voters to vote 
oneway or the ottier? 

''Answer. To my own personal knowledge, I do 
not. 

" Question. You did not hear or see any yourself ? 

" Answer. I do not think that I remember seeing 
or hearing anything of it; I heard a good deal of 
general talk and charges. 

" Question, You did not hear threats to remove 
voters from work? 

" Answer. I have no personal knowledge of it. 

" Question. Did you see voters march up to the 
polls in bodies? 

" Answer. That has been a custom in this city since 
Mr. Bowen's campaign. On the Republican side 
we would have our meetings in each precinct the 
evening prior to the election, and in some instances 
we would go to the polls in bodies, and sleep there 
till morning, to await the opening of the polls ; be- 
cause it would sometimes take a man two hour? 
before he could get at the window to deposit his 
vote. 

"Question. Were the voters taken under some 
leader? 

"Answer. Only the ordinary officers of the asso- 
ciation. 

" Question. Were they given ballots by the asso- 
ciation? 

" Answer. We had our tickets all ready, and dis- 
tributed them. 



12 



"Question. AVere these leaders contractors under 
the city government ? 

"Answer. 1 do not know; I was not acquainted 
with men who were contractors under the late Wash- 
ington corporation. We have had but one election 
since this new government has been put in opera- 
tion; that was the last election. I did not take a 
very active part in the last campaign. 

"Question. Do you know whether officers under the 
city government acted as leaders of these organized 
bodies of voters, taking them up to the polls and 
seeing that they voted? 

"Answer. Yes, sir ; I think they did. 

"Question. Did they do that generally? 

"Answer. I do not know that every officer did it ; 
I know that there were some officers who were not 
at the polls that I visited; but a number of the 
subordinates did take an active part in the election. 

" Question. Were the leaders generally either con- 
tractors or officers under the government? 

" Answer. I do not know that I can say that that 
was generally the case; to a great extent, however, 
it was." (Page 274.) 

I submit that when a witness answers that 
he "knows nothing of his own knowledge," 
"has no safe information upon which to base 
an opinion," and "does not remember thathe 
saw or heard anything of intimidation or 
threats," no just judge would press him fur- 
ther, or would quote him afterward in any 
gossip which he might narrate under the press- 
ing inquiries to which the witness was sub- 
jected by the gentleman. 

My colleague also cites page 468 to prove 
this charge, and upon examining it I find that 
it is the testimony of Mr. Ruffin, who was dis- 
charged by the Board of Public Works for 
doing the very things which so arouse the ire 
of my colleague, and in reading the testimony 
of this witness I find his answer to the ques- 
tion "whether he knew of money being used 
to carry the election," as follows: 

" Nothing more than that I saw a man that morn- 
ing on the road who said that Mr. Lewis was stand- 
ing in his yard handing out tickets, and twenty-five 
cents with each ticket." 

What is to be thought of a person who 
reviews a record and attempts to place before 
the House of Representatives an appalling 
picture of heartless cruelty, vandalism, and 
fraudulent; management of elections based 
upon such utter lack of evidence as is here 
disclosed? 

Now I suppose that the gentleman has pro- 
duced all he was able to find in the record to 
sustain this charge of fraudulent voting, and 
we see what it is. The committee will remem- 
ber, and any one who will take the trouble 
to read the voluminous record in this case will 
discover, that from the very first to the close 
of the testimony a strong effort was made to 
show that the election was carried by intim- 
idatioh, threats, and by fraud. Witnesses, 
enemies of the Board of Public Works, dis- 
appointed persons, hangers on, such as are to 
be found in all cities, were raked together, 
and I challenge my colleague or any one to 
find in the whole record any evidence going 
nearer to sustain the charge than that which I 
have noticed, and which my colleague quoted. 
Witness after witness called by the memorial- 
ists testified directly the opposite to this. 



If I could hope to summarize the record on 
all points in any reasonable space, I would be 
glad here to show just how the election was 
conducted and the character of the voters. 
The contemptuous manner in which he alludes 
to the laboring men of the District, the super- 
cilious air which he assumes toward all who 
sympathized with the new government, illy 
becomes a man who is performing the very 
responsible office of enlightening Congress as 
to the results of an investigation placed in his 
hands. 

It ought to be sufficient to stamp his speech 
as totally untrustworthy as a review of the case 
to expose this vain attempt, to establish fraud 
in the elections and such a frightfully demoral- 
ized condition of things in this District by such 
totally incompetent evidence as that alluded to. 

The gentleman would not have his reputa- 
tion injured upon such proofs; he would not 
even have the hardihood to ask a jury to con- 
vict a man of petit larceny on such broken 
shreds of gossip and negative evidence. Is 
my colleague's reputation any dearer to him 
than the reputation of the officers implicated 
by his speech? Has he a right to defame 
the whole community, and speak of voters as 
"herds of hogs," upon such shallow founda- 
tion ? 

PAVEMENTS. 

Following my colleague's speech in its order, 
I am brought next to what he terms the prin- 
cipal cause of expenses in these so-called im- 
provements for which the people were earnestly 
invited to vote last November, namely, "the 
repairing of the old cobble-stone streets." He 
says: 

"Doubtless all who hear me will be surprised to 
learn that every pavement being put down in the 
city of Washington, except a few blocks of Seneca 
stone and Belgian blocks respectively, is either of 
wood or concrete. Further, every species of wooden 
and concrete pavement has been tried or is in pro- 
cess of being tried. Somefifteen different patents all 
come in for th.eirsh.are of the public money and their 
grabat the public treasure. Old worthless styles and 
new untested ones were alike favored." 

In support of this count in his indictment 
my colleague cites page 208 of the record. 
Turning to that page I find that it is the testi- 
mony of Thornton Smith. My colleague here, 
as elsewhere, utterly ignores the evidence in 
the case and seizes upon scraps of the record 
to sustain what I think the most glaring mis- 
representations with regard to what has really 
been done here in the District. I shall not 
assail the character of this witness in order to 
break the effect of his testimony in this con- 
nection, but I invite any member of the House 
to read the testimony of this witness and com- 
pare his reckless statements with the facts as 
developed upon this subject of pavements from 
other and better sources, and see whether the 
conclusions arrived at by the gentleman are at 
all sustaiued. 

I suppose, without going carefully over the 
record and estimating the number of pages 
devoted to this subject of pavement, that there 



13 



are certainly not far from fifty, and some of 
the testimony embracing that of the highest 
scientific character; and how any gentleman 
of the reputation which my colleague enjoys 
can lay that all aside and plant himself in his 
wild statement upon the evidence of Thornton 
Smith is beyond my comprehension, except 
my theory of his speech be true, that he has 
made it for other localities than this, and 
does not really hope to have it affect the minds 
of Congress. 

The gentleman's witness, upon whose testi- 
mony he relies for his broad assertions, esti- 
mates the cost of the concrete pavement 
being laid in this city at seventy-five cents per 
square yard. We are paying $3 20 per square 
yard for this pavement, including two feet of 
grading, which must be done at the contract- 
or's expense. If it be true that it can be laid 
for seventy-five cents, then the criticisms upon 
that pavement are just, so far as the price is 
concerned, and our board should call a halt 
before laying another yard. As this question 
of pavements is a very important one, and it 
seems to be in the view of my colleague the 
principal cause of expense in the city, and 
hence the principal question involved in the 
investigation, I feel called upon to further 
notice what the record shows in this regard. 
Before doing so I must reproduce another 
paragraph from the gentleman's speech to 
show how wildly he talks about pavements : 

" The rotten poultice of Fifth avenue in New 
i'ork is reproduced on Pennsylvania avenue in 
Washington ; wooden abominations that are proved 
utter failures, and strongly suspected of being gen- 
erators of typhoid poison, compete for favor with 
concrete plasters, which are lull of holes at one end 
of a block before they are completed at the other. 
Let the members of the House of Representatives 
use their eyes as they walk through the city of 
AVashington along the miles of public thorough- 
fares wantonly torn up, and now being coated with 
a thin layer of asphalt or coal-tar, and observe the 
stuff called a pavement, already disintegrated and 
brittle, crushing beneath the foot and almost be- 
tween the fingers, full of holes and so soft as to be 
easily indented by a boot heel, and determine for 
themselves whether such vile abortions should have 
been paid for at $3 20 a square yard. For all this 
work the contracts, when made at all, (which was 
not always by any means,) were totally disregarded ; 
a few inches of dry stone covered with a skin of tar 
and sand were accepted and paid for by a blind and 
confiding Board of Works in lieu of eight or ten 
inches of solid concrete. It seemed really as though 
these gentlemen were trying to see how reckless 
they could be in wasting the money of the people 
whom they were appointed to protect." 

It would be much more agreeable to me if, 
in reviewing this speech, I could feel assured 
that the gentleman really believes half he says. 
There would theu be some zest for the argu- 
ment. As it is, I can only look through his 
extravagant adjectives and unmask his mis- 
representations to save others from falling into 
his pit-fall of prejudice. Listen to the very 
calm and dispassionate description he gives 
this House of wood and concrete pavement. 

Concrete pavements here are " rotten poul- 
tices ;" "plasters which are full of holes at 
one end of a block before they are completed 



at the other:" l, thiu layers of coal-tar:*' 
" stuff called pavement " crushing under the 
foot; "vile abortions;'" "a few inches of 
stone covered wiih a skin of tar and sand.'" 
Wood pavements are " wooden abomina- 
tions;" "generators of typhoid poison." 
One would suppose that the honorable gen- 
tleman had been pursued by some monstrum 
horrendum, and was narrating his narrow 
escape from the beast. Either that or else 
our highways are direct roads to the bottom- 
less pit, and the officers of the District fiends 
luring the people to destruction. 

WOODEN PAVEMENTS. 

Now, what are these "wooden abomina- 
tions?" They are precisely what have been 
adopted as standard pavements all over the 
United States in all leading cities. Mr. Jona- 
than Taylor (page 556) says he has laid in vari- 
ous cities, from New Orleans to New York, 
over one million dollars' worth. He says he 
has known pavements in Chicago to stand ten 
years. Lake street was laid over after being 
down nine years. Upon the question of com- 
parative cost here and elsewhere I give an ex- 
tract from this witness's testimony. I quote 
page 557: 

" Cost of Wood Pavement. 
"The first pavement that I put down in Milwau- 
kee was in 1871, at $1 35 per yard; the lumber was 
$7 a thousand, and coal-tar $1 a barrel, and seventy- 
five cents per cubic yard for gravel. In San Fran- 
cisco we got $2 50, in gold. Lumber there was from 
$14 to $16 a thousand; the coal-tar, I think, was $3 
a barrel. In Portland, Oregon, the prices wereabout 
I the same ; that was in 1865. The pay was in gold in 
! both places, and the premium on gold was about 
| 45 at that time. At Williauisport, Pennsylvania, 
the price was 34 18 per yard; lumber cost Sit ia thou- 
sand; coal-tar, 84 50; gravel, $2 a ton, or three cubic 
yards, allscreened. Thatwas two years ago last fall. 
In Philadelphia the price was $4 a yard in 1867 or 
1868; lumber delivered cost about $28 25. In Eliza- 
beth, New Jersey, the price was $4 50. In New York 
city I put down the first for $4 a yard in 1866. The 
next was $4 50, and then higher up to $5 50. Coal- 
tar was generally $3 50 a barrel there; but when I 
speak of coal-tar I speak of pitch mixed with it, 
about one half pitch. It is this compound that I 
mean in giving these prices. The lumber in New 
York was from $30 to $33 a thousand; gravel about 
$1 50 a ton, which takes about a ton and a half for a 
cubic yard. Grading generally runs from fifteen up 
to thirty or forty cents ayard. In Blmira, New York. 
I put down, in 1867, 15,000 yards, but did nothing to 
the grading. The price was $3 15 a yard. 

"Question. Have you ever known of any wood 
pavement put down at the East, at any time, for less 
than three or four dollars per yard? 

"Answer. I do not know of any. I do not know 
of anj; put down anywhere in the East for less than 
$4 to $4 50, except that piece I put down in Elmira 
for $3 15, without grading. The price must depend 
upon the price of material." 

Wooden pavements are no longer experi- 
mental. In cities where they have been most 
and longest used they are still being laid. 
What shall I say, then, to my colleague, who 
denounces the use of these pavements here as 
a reckless waste of money? In all eastern 
cities the price has been about four dollars 
per square yard, and under the old govern- 
ment of Washington that was the cost. This 
reckless Board of Public Works have con- 



14 



tracted for three dollars per square yard for 
untreated wood, and $3 25 for Burnetized or 
prepared wood. Did not my colleague kuow 
this, and has he not suppressed the fact? 

CONCRETE PAVEMENT. 

The testimony on concrete pavement is 
very full, and of the highest authority. This 
pavement is somewhat experimental as yet, 
but the best of results have come from the 
use of it. On pages 426, 427 is an official 
report of Mr. Kellogg, eugineer-iu-chief of 
public parks, New York, a gentleman of high 
reputation, and certainly disinterested. He 
gives the names ol streets and drives where 
it has been used satisfactorily. For pavement 
eight inches thick, such as is laid here, the 
cost in New York is $3 75 per square yard. 
The board pay $3 20. 

I invite a careful perusal of the testimony 
of L. S. Filbert, (page 558;) John 0. Evans, 
(page 559:) Francis Jewell, (page 562;) Sam- 
uel 11. Scharf, (page 563 ;) C. E. Evans, (page 
538;) William B. Parisen, (page 545,) and the 
report of a commission of eminent engineers 
on the subject, (page 742.) I cannot quote 
this testimony; but I assert that no one can 
read it and not be astonished at the criticisms 
of my colleague. The cause of the breaking 
in the pavement last winter; the cost, which 
is about two dollars and seventy-five cents net 
per square yard; the profit to the contractor; the 
prices paid elsewhere ; the difference between 
the pavement laid here and the Fifth avenue 
''plaster" referred to by the honorable gentle- 
man ; in short, the whole subject is fully and 
fairly presented. Upon this point the majority 
of the committee say : 

" The uniform testimony of all competent persons 
was that no good wood or concrete pavements can 
be laid lor less than three dollars per square yard." 

It would seem to me from the evidence that 
instead of the Board of Public Works being 
"blind and confiding," they have been ex- 
tremely cautious to protect the interests of the 
people, more so than the officers of any other 
city in the Union. Three dollars and twenty 
cents per square yard, including two feet of 
grading, is less than the same pavement is being 
laid for anywhere in the country. The pro- 
vision that the contractors must keep the pave- 
ment in repair three years is a precaution 
nowhere else taken, and, as the proof showi, 
secures a good pavement, for all agree that if 
the pavement is not well laid it will develop 
the fact before that time expires. It is known 
to Congress that a concrete pavement was laid 
in front of the Arlington Hotel three years ago. 
and it is apparently as good to-day as it was 
the first year, and no better pavement can 
anywhere be found. This cost the old city 
governmentfour dollars per square yard. The 
Board of Public Works have contracted with 
the builder of that pavement to lay the same 
at S3 20. This was the Scharf pavement. 

The gentleman says, "It seems as though 
the board were trying to see how reckless they 



could be in wasting the money of the people 
whom they were appointed to protect." Does 
it look like it, in view of the facts stated? Has 
the gentleman forgotten that the board were 
petitioned by George W. Riggs, James C. 
Kennedy, W. W. Corcoran, A. B. Stoughton, 
and J. W. Alvord to lay the Scharf pavement 
on Madison place and Fifteenth street at $3 50 
per square yard, and that the board contracted 
to have it done for $3 20? Does this look 
reckless? Does this not look like protecting 
the interests of the people? This "plaster," 
"rotten poultice," "vile abortion," was good, 
enough for Mr. Biggs and Mr. Corcoran at a 
greater price than the board paid. And the 
petition also asks that the contract be given 
to Mr. John 0. Evans, the man the board 
engaged to do it. (Seepage 605.) Does my 
colleague forget another petition, sent the 
board by property-holders on F street between 
Nineteenth and Twentieth streets, praying 
" that a substantial concrete street pavement, 
be laid, believing it to be more durable and 
healthful than a wood pavement? " (Page 44.) 
This petition is sigued by witnesses of the 
memorialists and by some of the largest and 
best property- holders on the street. As further 
approval of adopting this pavement has not the 
Committee on Appropriations for the House 
recommended an appropriation of nearly two 
hundred thousand dollars to help pay for these 
" plasters?"* And still will my colleague insist 
that the board is acting in reckless disregard 
of the interests of the people ? May I not safely 
leave him here to the workings of his own con- 
science? 

DEET OP THE DISTRICT. 

My colleague next takes up the subject of 
the District debt. He says that nobody accu- 
rately knows what this debt is. I do not be- 
lieve that my colleague does, for it is evident 
that he has not examined the testimony upon 
that point. The record shows this debt as 
accurately at the time the showing was made 
as it is possible for any government, local or 
national, to show the condition of its debt. In 
treating this subject of the public debt, how- 
ever, my colleague deals in what seems to me 
almost unmitigated misrepresentation, and ar- 
rives at the conclusion that we have a grand 
total debt of the District of $13,429,377, and 
he states that over nine million five hundred 
thousand dollars of this has been incurred in 
seven months; and he asserts that taxes of 
the most onerous description must follow inev- 
itably. Let me treat these two questions : first 
the debt, and next the tax necessary to dis- 
charge it; and, in doing so, show how wildly my 
colleague groups assertions together to sustain 
his remarkable conclusion. 

He says that in six months' legislation over 
seventeen million dollars were appropriated, 
and in support of that submits a list of appro- 

•Congress subsequently passed the miscellaneous 
appropriation bill, including tko item, thus vindi- 
cating the Board. 



15 



priations made by the Legislature of the Dis- 
trict to which I invite attention for a moment. 
I shall not analyze this table throughout, but 
will go into it sufficiently to show the disingen- 
uousness of my colleague in its use. He has 
no right to leave the impression upon the 
minds of Congress that would follow from his 
remarks unless it is sustained by the facts, 
and that, it is not so sustained needs but a 
moment's examination. Take the first, second, 
and eleventh items in his table of the acts of 
the first regular session, making $755,000. 
These were not appropriations which went to 
swell the debt of the District, in any sense. 

The eleventh item of $500,000 was, as its title 
shows, to anticipate the revenue to be derived 
from the four-million loan, and was to be paid 
back from that loan. 

The first, and second items of that session, 
of $255,000. were not appropriations, but were 
in anticipation (as the title shows, and as the 
gentleman ought to have known) of the rev- 
enues to be derived from taxation, in order to 
pay the expenses of carrying on the govern- 
ment. 

His twenty- first item, the second four- million 
loan act, was not an appropriation in any sense, 
but was a proposition submitted to the people 
for authorizing a loan of $4,000,000 in the 
event the injunction should hold good against 
the first four-million loan. It was never the 
intention to use the second four millions in 
any otherevent, and at thetimethegentleman's 
speech was printed in the Globe there was a law 
upon the statute-books of the country, passed 
by Congress, validating the first four-million 
loan, and declaring the second one, which he 
arrays la the estimates, as void. 

His concluding item in this list of the first 
regular session, of four millions " to meet one 
third of the cost of improvements made under 
the two four-million loan acts, to be raised by 
a special tax to be levied upon the property 
improved," is wholly imaginary and exists only 
in the gentleman's brain. It is not an appro- 
priation at all, and he knows it, and forms no 
part of the District debt. The table which he 
submits shows that there was no act of the 
Legislature upon the subject, for he does not 
cite it; and even if it had any foundation it 
would be true only as to two millions instead 
of four, for the reason that but one four- 
million loan act ever was intended to go 
into effect, and only one did, iti fact, go into 
effect; so that we have in these five items to 
which I have called attention $8,255,000 which 
should be eliminated at once from his table ; 
and the same is true of many other items. It 
would seem to me, however, quite sufficient to 
show the utter untrustworthiness of his esti- 
mate to point out errors covering considerably 
more than half of the total at which he 
arrives. 

I have not much patience to follow further 
the remarkable financial fire- works which he 
has let off. 



TRUE STATEMENT OF TUE DISTRICT DEBT. 

The majority of the committee reported to 
Congress the exact indebtedness of the Dis- 
trict, and I here reproduce it as my answer to 
the gentleman. I give it in detail: 

" The indebtedness of the old corporation was as- 
certained by a board convened to audit and marshal 
the old debts. They reported, as the committee find : 

Washington, D. C $2,966,093 27 

Georgetown. D. C 261,463 37 

Levy court District of Columbia 28,825 S4 



Total indebtedness of the late corpora- 
tions 13,256.382 48 



" The board further report as additional indebted- 
j ness of the corporation of Washington the follow- 
ing: 

Trust funds. 

Special tax fund $22,874 04 

Water fund 69,776 92 

Canal fund 68,022 04 

Ten-year bond sinking fund 125.C44 58 



Total amount trust funds $286,317 58 



" The last amount was misapplied by the corpora- 
tion of Washington by using trust funds to pay cur- 
rent expenses of the corporation, and thus it became 
a debt for which the new government is forced to 
provide. 

"In addition to the foregoing were certain uncom- 

jl pleted contracts which may be regarded us a debt 

i| imposed by the old upon the new government. 

These were for the construction of school-houses 

and paving of certain streets, and amount to 

$707,338 71. 

"There was also to be provided for certain overdue 
and current interest upon the bonds of the late 
corporations of Georgetown and Washington, which 
was paid by the new government, and thus went to 
swell the debt entailed upon the District. This 
amounts to $131,258 60. 

"The total indebtedness thus set forth, and for 
which the District government had to provide, 
amounts to $4,381,297 37. 

" The indebtedness created by the new government 
appears from the report of the comptroller as fol- 
lows: 

District of Columbia. 

July 10,1871. Permanent-improvement bonds — 
authorized, $4,000,000; not is- 
sued, $2,000,000 $2,0n0.000 HO 

July 20, 1S71. Water-stock bonds 450,000 00 

August 23, 1871. Market-stock bonds- 
authorized, $300. 000... Not issued. 

October 18, 1871. Chicago relief bonds — 

authorized, $100, 000. ..Not issued. 



Total $2,450,000 00 



The comptroller excludes the unissued bonds, but 
the committee regard the bonds as a debt, although 
not yet issued, which gives a total of, $4,850,000 00 

Adding to this the amount of the debt of 
old corporation above given 4,381,297 37 



Makes total debt of the District of Co- 
lumbia _..$9,231,297 37 



RATE OP TAXATION. 

My colleague is equally wide of the mark in 
his estimate of the rate of taxation which 
would inevitably follow this large debt. It is 
probably true that if our debt was actually 
what he has imagined it to be, the rate of tax- 
ation would possibly increase neariy to the 
estimate which he makes, but it is not exactly 
fair to create an imaginary debt and then ex- 



16 



pect us to believe that it will require a particu- 
lar rate of taxation to meet it. There is such 
a thiug in logic as having one's premises cor- 
rect before reasoning from them. My col- 
league cannot be wholly unfamiliar with that 
fact. Let me quote my colleague's method of 
ascertaining the probable rate of taxation. 
He says the true estimate is as follows : 

For the District fund $0 70 

Lighting the city 15 

Metropolitan police 20 

ike public schools 60 

The ten-year bonds 10 

Interest on four-million loan 37 

Principal on said loan 22 

New water-inaiu 6 

Piedmont rail road 5 

Interest on second four-million loan 37 

Market- house bonds 7 

For payment of the floating debt 30 

Interest on the funded debt 15 

The seven-thirty certificates 25 

Chicago fire-bonds 4 

Total tax on every $100 valuation $3 63 

Where my colleague gets his estimate I do 
not know, but as it corresponds with one sub- 
mitted to the committee by Mr. W. W. Moore, 
Df this city, I infer he has taken it from that 
gtatement. Mr. Moore's estimate is found on 
pages 418, 419. 

My colleague ought at least to be willing to 
do his informant the justice to state what he 
said in relation to this estimate, if he is not 
disposed to be scrupulous so far as his own 
statements are concerned. It is due to Captain 
Moore to give him the benefit, at least, of his 
own computation. Turning to the testimony it 
will be seen that this table was made up upon 
a supposed state of facts which did not exist, 
and which wjould change the result very much. 
Mr. Moore's table sbows(part of whichhe says 
is hypothetical) a tax of $3 63 on every $100. 
Subsequently he submited a corrected state- 
ment showing it to be $3 15j. (Pages 674 
and 676.) 

This matter I deem of sufficient importance 
to warrant me in placing before Congress in 
this connection as complete an auswer as can 
be made to this false estimate of our probable 
taxation. That answer I believe is completely 
made by the vice president of the Board of 
Public Works, Mr. Shepherd, who reviews 
Captain Moore's estimate in a letter to the 
chairman of the District Committee, and I 
give an extract from it. (See pages 676, 677.) 
After pointing out at some length Captain 
Moore's errors and eliminating several items 
which are manifestly wrong, Mr. Shepherd 
submits the following: 

Summary. 

" It is respectfully suggested that the aggregate of 
taxes to be levied during the coming fiscal year is to 
be determined, not by mere special pleading nor the 
distortion of facts, but by a careful computation 
and analysis of the current expenses of the govern- 
ment of the District, including the interest on its 
bunded debt. The following estimate of these is 
submitted for the consideration of your honorable 
committee: 



Estimated expenditures. 

Public schools $400,000 

Fire department 75,000 

Metropolitan police 90,000 

Lighting the city with gas 70,000 

Ordinary and contingent expenses of the 

government of the District of Columbia... 282,634 
Interest and sinking fund on debt, esti- 
mated at .$8,000,000 600.000 

Contingencies 100,000 

Sl.617.6-J4 

Estimated revenue. 
Estimated assessment, (in round numbers,) $90,- 
000,000. This amount, at SI 70 per $100. will 

yield SI. 530,000 

Estimated revenue from licenses 150.0(H) 

Estimated revenue from water fund 40,000 

$1,720,000 

" The estimates of receipts and expenditures above 
given are based upon the experience of the past 
year, and are, I believe, as nearly correct as it is pos- 
sible to make them. The allowance for the inter- 
est and principal of the debt (which I have placed 
at $8,000,000, and in which I have included the 
$450,000 water loan) is, in my opinion, not only ample, 
but in excess of what will actually be required. 

"Permit me to say that I have endeavored to 
make this statement as succinct, intelligible, and 
accurate as possible, in order that the allegation of 
excessive taxation, _ made to the detriment of the 
interests of the entire community and to the injury 
of our credit, maybe promptly met and emphatically 
disproved. It does seem to me that had Captain 
Moore, turning aside from his efforts to exhibit our 
local taxes in excess of their real rates, contributed 
his abilities toward strengthening our credit and 
aiding our people in their endeavors to keep pace 
with American progress, his action would have been 
more in accord with his high reputation as a citizen 
and a legislator."* 

I will remind my colleague of another im- 
portant fact which in his flights of fancy he 
seems to have forgotten, and that is that a 
month before his speech was printed Congress 
had passed an act, which represents the views 
of the District government, providing that the 
aggregate amount of taxes in any one year 
shall not exceed two per cent, on the assessed 
cash valuation of property. 

All the mental gymnastics of my friend, 
therefore, in attempting to create false impres- 
sions with regard to the condition of affairs 
here and the burdensome taxation which 
awaits us, were entirely unnecessary, and cal- 
culated to do much more harm than good. 

RATE OF TAXATION COMPARED WITH OTHER CITIES. 

Why my colleague seems to have become so 
anxious about the taxation of this District, 
when he knows that our taxes now are less 
than almost any other city in the Union, and 
in all probability will remain so, I cannot 
understand. If he would turn some of his 
attention to his own cities, and leave us, so long 
as we are doing well enough, to manage our 
own concerns, it would be quite as well. 

Perhaps I ought here in this connection to 
show by comparison the difference between 
our taxation and that of some of the other 
cities of the Union. 1 quote from a report of 

*By recent act of the Legislative Assembly of the 
District, levying taxes tor 1873, the rate is fixed at 
$1 70 on the $100; the same as heretofore. 



17 



the commissioners appointed by the Governor 
of his State (New York) to revise the laws for 
the assessment and collection of taxes, (pages 
9,10:) 

Citv of New York $2 27 on $100 

City of Brooklyn 3 87 on 100 

City of Rochester 6 70 on 100 

City of Albany 4 57 on 100 

CifyofTrov 4 30 on 100 

City of Cincinnati 3 19 on 100 

City of Philadelphia 1 80 on 100 

Our tax is 1 70 on 100 

Considering that fully one third of the prop- 
erty of the city of Washington belongs to the 
United States and pays no tax, while the im- 
provements which are made here through- 
out the city generally contribute as much to 
advance the value of the Government prop- 
erty as our own, it is certainly very creditable 
to the management of our government that 
we pay a less tax on the hundred dollars than 
any of the cities named, and this fact becomes 
still more creditable when we consider that the 
improvements made by way of paving streets, 
laying sewers, &c, are not paid for by the 
property abutting on the streets improved 
wholly, as in other cities, but, that two thirds 
of this expense are assessed against the whole 
property of the city. I challenge the gentle- 
man from New York to find anywhere better 
management with lower rate of taxation, and 
I challenge him to show any reasonable ground 
lor his apprehension that our taxes will be 
increased to $3 63 upon the hundred dollars, 
as he states. 

NEGOTIATION OF THE FOUR-MILLION LOAN. 

In discussing this matter of debt of the Dis- 
trict my colleague refers to the manner in 
which the four-million loan was negotiated as 
not the least remarkable feature of our debt. 
Let me follow him through this branch of his 
speech, which is equally unfair and unjust, par- 
ticularly to the Governor of the District. The 
Governor, acting in the discretion which the 
Legislature gave him in the negotiation of the 
loan, sold the bonds in New Y^ r k city to the 
First National Bank at ninety-four cents on 
the dollar. He made no negotiation beyond 
that, aud had no connection whatever, as the 
testimony shows, and as I believe the gentle- 
man admits, with the transaction beyond that. 
But my colleague follows the bonds from the 
First National Bank into the hands of the syn- 
dicate which undertook their negotiation in 
Europe. He says that the First National 
Bank cleared $100,000 by their sale, and that 
the syndicate, represented by Messrs. Selig- 
man & Co., of New York, realized a profit of 
$426,920, making a profit of over half a mil- 
lion dollars, according to his statement. 

If we were not already prepared for almost 
any distorted view of the case which might be 
presented by ihegentlemau, this wouldseem in- 
deed remarkable when the truth is fully stated. 
Of all the remarkable injustice of the speech 
this is really the most cruel, and shows the 
least candor and fairness of any portion. When 
Governor Cooke went to New York to nego- 



tiate this loan it was predicted by the injunction- 
ists (I mean that class of men who were op- 
posing the District government) that the loan 
could not be negotiated at all at any fair figure. 
Efforts were made to discredit the District, and 
prevent the negotiation of the loan entirely. 
Papers were sent to New York containing the 
grossest misrepresentations with regard to the 
condition of our affairs ; they were also sent 
to Europe. I have already quoted from the 
record the testimony showing something of the 
difficulty which he encountered, and present- 
ing the advantages derived by the new gov- 
ernment from the management, which I regard 
as eminently wise, and which has reflected 
great credit upon the government, but which 
my colleague seems to look upon as little less 
than a fraud. The Governor says, (page 192:) 

"Some of the opponents of the loan did not con- 
fine their efforts to defeat it within the District, but 
extended them to several of the leading money 
markets of the world, and thus attempted to injure 
the credit of the District." 

Turn now to the evidence of Mr. Seligman, 
the agent of the syndicate. See what con- 
nection Governor Cooke had with him. Page 
407 he says : 

"By Mr. Eldredge: 

"Question. What was this transaction between 
you and Governor Cooke ? 

"Answer. We had no transactions with Governor 
Cooke whatever. 

" Question. What was the transaction in which 
you became interested in these securities ? 

"Answer. We bought of the First National Bank 
of New York §1,500,000 of the District bonds at 
95J- and accrued Interest, with the privilege of tak- 
ing the other $2,500,000, making $4,000,000 grand 
total up to the 1st of April. That is the bargain 
we made with the First National Bank. 

"By Mr. Crebs: 

" Question. You had nothing to do with Governor 
Cooke? 

"Answer. Nothing whatever. 

_ " Question. With whom did you make your nego- 
tiation ? 

"Answer. The president of the First National 
Bank. 

" Question. Did that in any way depend upon any 
bargain that they had made with the Governor of 
this District? 

"Answer. Not that I am aware of." 

The whole of his testimony is instructive, 
and shows that while there was apparently 
considerable profit in the negotiation of these 
bonds, there was great risk in agreeing to take 
so much of an entirely new loan unknown to 
the market, aud where the greater portion of 
it was to be delivered at the discretion of the 
holders of the bonds, and might be affected at 
any time by difficulties with Europe or other- 
wise, in which case the purchasers would be 
bound to take them whether they incurred 
loss or not. Mr. Seligman shows (page 508) 
how great was the expense of advertising in 
Europe, and says that the cost of advertising 
this loan in Germany was 160,000 florins and 
in Paris 75,000 francs. All this matter of 
expense and risk my colleague overlooks en- 
tirely, and foots up the total profits without 
any deductions whatever. 

In the course of his remarks he says that 



18 



the advertising of the loan in Europe is a false- 
hood and misrepresentation throughout. 

The evidence of Mr. Seligman, Governor 
Cooke, and two others upon this subject shows 
that the transaction so far as the District 
government was concerned was confined to 
the First National Bank of New York, and 
that the Governor had nothing whatever to do 
with any subsequent negotiation and knew 
nothing of it. My colleague does not quote 
the testimony, but relies upon the Galiguani 
newspaper, which was not brought before the 
committee, and cannot therefore be treated 
as evidence. Mr. Seligman did translate for 
the committee an advertisement, and upon 
this subject he was questioned ; and since my 
colleague has made such a parade of this mat- 
ter, I must quote from the testimony again, 
(page 409:) 

" By Mr. Chipman: 

"Question. That language, 'authorized by act of 
Congress, February 21, 1872,' does not relate to the 
act under which the District government was au- 
thorized—that Congress authorized the District gov- 
ernment, which subsequently authorized the loan? 

" Answer. That is the way I look upon it. 

" Question. Were you deceived in the purchase of 
these bonds by any statement that Congress had 
authorized these bonds? 

"Answer. Not at all. 

" Question. Did you ever authorize any one to state 
that Congress had authorized these bonds? 

" Answer. No, sir. It was necessary to show some 
authority whereby the District was authorized to 
make this loan. That was the meaning of the lan- 
guage, I suppose. 

" Question. Have you ever heard that any of the 
purchasers were deceived by the use of that lan- 
guage? 

"Answer. None have been that I am aware of. 

" Question. Have you had any complaints from the 
purchasers that they have been deceived by the lan- 
guage? 

" Answer. Not at all. 

" Question. Will you glance over this bond and see 
whet her that is the bond ? 

"Answer. Yes, sir. 

"Question. I see in this the following language: 
'This bond is issued in pursuance of the act of Con- 
gress of the United States entitled "An act to pro- 
vide a government for the District of Columbia," 
approved February 21, 1871, and of an act of the Le- 
gislative Assembly of the District of Columbia, enti- 
tled "An act making appropriations for improve- 
ments and repairs in the District of Columbia, and 
providing for the payment thereof,'' approved July 
10, 1871, and " An act relative to the interest on the 
loan or bonds authorized to be issued by the District 
of Columbia," approved December Iff, 1871.' Did 
you bet eve, or did your house on seeing this bond, 
that the United States had guarantied its pay- 
ment ? 

" Answer. Oh, no. If the United States had guar- 
antied it, we should have had a different price. 

" Question. Would the language have been dif- 
ferent if you had that guarantee ? 

" Answer. I think so, by all means." 

After all, the only question that is pertinent 
is whether Governor Cooke made a good sale 
of the bonds in New York. Upon this sub- 
ject 1 will quote from Mr. Seligman again, 
(page 410:) 

" By Mr. Chipman: 

" Question I want to ask your opinion as a banker, 
as to whether Governor Cooke, in negotiating this 
loan in New York city at 91 net. made a good or a 
bad bargain in that particular for the District; in 
other words, was it j, good negotiation or a bad one? 

" Answer. I should think it a very good one unuer 
the circumstances. 



" Question. Why? 

"Answer. Because there are so many American 
securities now offered, particularly in New York, 
that a bond of this kind at 94, a new bond, I should 
think it a very high price for it, and it was so con- 
sidered at the time. 

" Question. Do you know any other municipal 
bonds, of other cities in the United States, now 
quoted in New York as hi yh as 94? 

"Answer. Yes, sir; several of them, while there 
are a good many that are a great deal less." 

Let me also quote from the testimony of 
Mr. Riggs, an eminent banker of this city, 
and a gentleman who has no very kind feeling 
toward the District government, and would 
not be apt to misstate a fact in its interest, 
(page 691 :) 

"Question. Do you know the price at which the 
bonds of this city are said to have been disposed of 
by Governor Cooke? 

"Answer. I do not: I have forgotten. 
" By Mr. Chandler: 

"Question. The price was 94i to96L What is your 
opinion as to that price ? 

"Answer. My opinion is what I told Governor 
Cooke, that I thought it was very high. 
"By Mr. Chipman: 

" Question. You thought that a good sale ? 

" Answer. Yes; I thought, and still think so. 

"Question. What was it as compared with the val- 
uation ol indebtedness certificates of the old gov- 
ernment? 

"Answer. Within my recollection the rate at 
which the debt of the city has been sold has varied 
from above par to 50 and 60. Of late years it wa3 
much higher. The six per cent, bonds were sold for 
82 and 83. These are six percent, in gold. I mean to 
say that the bonds of the present city government 
sold higher than the old city debt." 

I quote also from the testimony of Dr. 
Blake, (page 694,) who is also a gentleman of 
large experience in banking, and president of 
one of the leading banks of the city, and a man 
not likely to misstate facts in the interest of 
the District government: 

"Question. Do you consider the sale of the $4,000,- 
000 bonds at 94 as a good sale ? 

"Answer. I rely entirely on Mr. Riggs's opinion. 

"Question. You think that his opinion in that 
respect can be relied upon? 

"Ansioer. I should regard it as a good sale from 
what Mr. Riggs stated. I have heard him say so 
frequently before." 

HOW THE FOUR-MILLION LOAN WAS CARRIED. 

In connection with this discussion of the 
loan my colleague says: 

"It may create suprise that the 84,000,000 loan, 
when submitted to the people, was approved with 
such remarkable unanimity ; but this surprise will 
be lessened when the methods taken to make it 
popular are considered. In the first place, every 
appliance at the command of the Board of Works 
was used to force voters to sustain it. The poor 
were threatened and cajoled; they were prom- 
ised work if they supported it, and menaced with 
starvation if they opposed it. Thousands of men 
were plac< d on the pay-rolls just before election 
day ; voters were imported from neighboring States, 
and the blacks were organized into gangs, so much 
so that men of property gave up the contest in 
despair and allowed it to go by default." 

Now, I pronounce this paragraph one tissue 
of misrepresentation, and 1 challenge the gen- 
tleman to point out in the record any testi- 
mony to sustain him. 

It would be very difficult for me to go over 
the hundreds of pagjes of testimony and show 
the negative, but his statement can be shown 



19 



to be utterly untrue. This statement of ray 
colleague rests precisely upon that class of 
testimony which he quoted in the earlier part 
of his speech on the same subject, and where 
he relied upon a witness who said at the out- 
Bet that he had no safe information upon 
which to base an opinion, and who said that 
he knew nothing of his own personal knowl- 
edge. Not a single witness stated anything 
from which an inference could be drawn that 
he was promised work if he supported the 
loan or menaced with starvation if he opposed 
it. Not a single witness has testified that 
voters were imported from neighboring cities. 
The utmost that appears anywhere in the 
record upon which to base so vile a calumny 
was the s!atement of two or three witnesses 
that laborers came to the District of Colum- 
bia about the time of the election to secure 
work ; witness knew of no instance where a 
foreign laborer had voted, aud thinks the 
blacks were not organized into gangs for the 
purpose of voting ; and the only thing from 
winch this could be inferred is the fact ap- 
pearing in the record that the political clubs 
of the city maintained their organizations and 
met as usual on the morning of the election, 
and generally went to the polls in a body. In 
no single instance was a man shown to have 
been kept from the polls who desired to vote, 
and in no single instance was a man shown to 
have been coerced by phj'sical or moral force 
to vote a ticket which he did not desire to 
voie. 

The statement is equally untrue that thou- 
sands of men were placed on the pay-rolls just 
before election day, and, as my colleague in 
another portion of his speech intimates, were 
discharged after they had voted. 

Without resorting to the testimony to prove 
the incorrectness of the paragraph which I 
have just quoted, I will only do so in one in- 
stance, and I think it may safely be assumed 
that if the statement of my colleague is false 
in one particular it is false in others. 

On page 653 is an abstract of daily reports 
showing the number of men, carts, and plow 
teams employed under the direction of the 
superintendent of streets during the month of 
November, 1871, the month in which the elec- 
tion occurred, if my colleague will take the 
trouble to examine he will find by the testi- 
mony of the superintendent of streets that on 
the 20th of November, the day before the elec 
tion, there were on the pay-rolls eight hundred 
and nine persons, including the boys who were 
driving the carts, and who are below the voting 
age, aud that there were fewer the day of the 
election than the day before. He will also find 
that the largest number on any day was sixteen 
hundred and forty-nine and the smallest sev- 
enty-eight; and that this large number was on 
the 13thof November, and, as the wiaiesssays, 
constituted an extra force put on temporarily 
for clearing Pennsylvania avenue. Instead of 
being retained, as miglit have been done if it 
had been the purpose of the board, as my 



colleague intimates, to enroll them for the 
purpose of voting, the payrolls will show 
that there was a large discharge of laborers 
just before the election. 

Thu.-> it is that when this remarkable speech 
is brought face to face with the record it has not 
even the semblance of truth. He then adds as 
a climax to this part of the speech: 
"Subsidization of the Press. 

"But besides ail this the press oi the District was 
subsidized most shamelessly 1 Sheets never hoard 
of even by newspaper-men received thousands of 
dollars, and even the sole Democratic organ was 
induced to betray its principles.'' 

I am surprised to fiud my friend turning his 
back upon his guild (for he is himself a news- 
paper man) and exposing the newspapers to 
condemnation. 

There is not much to be said upon this sub- 
ject of newspaper advertising. The majority 
of the committee gave it as their opinion thai 
this was an extravagant expenditure. The 
amount was large, I will admit; but when 
there are deducted from it the amounts paid for 
advertising to the four leading papers of the 
city, which witnesses all agree should have 
been given this advertising, and when there is 
also deducted from the total the amount of 
printing, the sum will not seem so large as has 
been represented. 1 think this much may be 
said, however, that if there was any betrayal 
of principles by the newspapers it was con- 
fined solely to that paper representing the 
political principles of my colleague, for all of 
the other newspaper men who were brought 
before the committee to testify said that they 
did not change their principles by reason of 
the advertising, and that the utmost influence 
it had upon them was to quicken their zeal. 
And 1 think the gentleman will discover by 
examining the testimony that some of the pro- 
prietors of this one paper to which he alludes 
favored the loan, and that that was the cause 
of a rupture among the managers of the paper 
aud the change of its editorial management. 

The vote for the loan was not the vote of 
Republicans alone ; it was the vote of progres- 
sive men of both parties in the District of 
Columbia; indeed, there was scarcely any poli- 
tics in that election, there being in few ot the 
election districts any Democratic nominees at 
all, and in no instance was there a Democrat 
elected who opposed the loan. Mr. Dickson 
and Mr. Hogau, who were elected, both of 
them sustained the loan before the people 
and voted for it in the Legislature. They were 
Democrats, and were reelected, and reelected 
wholly on the loan issue. It also appeared in 
evidence that several of the papers copied the 
advertising without the order of the Governor 
and afterwards presented their claims to the 
Legislature and were paid. Indeed the whole 
printing bill was paid by appropriations of the 
Legislature, aud to that extent was approved 
by the people. 

A very instructive letter upon this subject 
of advertising and printing, written to the 
committee by the Governor, is found on pages 



20 



191 and 192, and I commend it to those who 
care to read the palliating circumstances con- 
nected with it. This letter will show that the 
amount of advertising and printing was fully 
doubled by the obstructions thrown in the way 
of the new government by the very men who 
now complain of the advertising. There was 
a new registration made necessary, an extra 
election to be provided for ; the advertising of 
the four-million loan act, and many other 
things went to swell this item of advertising 
which would not have been necessary had 
the government been permitted to run along 
smoothly without factious opposition. 

But to leave my colleague, without further 
comment upon this subject, to gain such lau- 
rels as he may by charging his own profession 
with shameless subsidization, I shall only add 
that if, as he says, this whole newspaper influ- 
ence was so easily purchased, it may show 
that there is some radical defect in the profes- 
sion itself, or some natural depravity in news- 
paper men that does not exist in others, and in 
this way I can account for my colleague going 
so wild in his attempt to portray the position 
of affairs in this District. 

EXPENSE OF RUNNING THE DISTRICT GOVERNMENT. 

The speech which 1 am reviewing proceeds 
next to notice the expense of running the Dis- 
trict government, and brings into comparison 
with the District of Columbia the expenses of 
several of the States of the Union for the pur- 
pose of showing that the District government 
is burdened with a large and useless number 
of officers, and that, its expenses are therefore 
much greater than is necessary. I shall not fol- 
low this table or attempt to show the fallacies 
of its comparison. It is enough to refute it by 
calling attention to this fact, that a municipal 
government is entirely a different affair from 
the government of the State or Territory. I 
suppose there are towns in many of the Ter- 
ritories of the West and cities whose expendi- 
tures are greater than our territorial govern- 
ment. The expenses of the city of New York 
are vastly more than the State of New York ; 
of Boston, more than Massachusetts; and so 
on of all the States that he names. He 
groups the expenditure of the whole Dis- 
trict of Columbia, including the government 
of the cities of Washington, Georgetown, 
and the county, but he fails to group in the 
expenditure of the States which he names 
the expenses of the different cities, counties, 
and townships of those States. He need only 
take his own State and his own city for an 
example. He puts down the cost of running 
the State government at $323,750. I observe 
in a published statement coming from the 
board of apportionment for the city of New 
Yoik that it has set apart over seventeen mil- 
lion dollars to meet the expenses of the city 
for the year 1872 Deducting every item not 
making a part of the cost of running the city 
government, and you will have an enormous 
difference between the cost of the State and 
the city. 



"uncle" george's bill of fari. 
Precisely why there is injected into the 
speech at this juncture the letter of the 
chairman of the board of registration I can- 
not see. I supposed if my colleague had any 
one distinguishing feature it was his relish for 
a joke, wherever perpetrated. In speaking 
of the officers of the District government the 
gentleman says : 

"And nothing can better or more pleasantly 
exhibit the easy views of these officers than the 
following letter in reference to certain 'free 
lunches," breakfasts, dinners, and teas which the 
board of registration had eaten at the public ex- 
pense, and of which even the servile Legislature 
complained as an outrage." 

And then follows the humorous letter of Mr. 
Gideon, which was received by the Legislature 
at the time in the spirit in which it was written, 
and which never entered the mind of any one 
but my serious colleague as anything but a bit 
of pleasantry. The fact is that the board of 
registration were as hard a worked body of 
men as ever attempted to discharge public 
duties. It was made up of persons from both 
parties, and sat for many days and nights con- 
secutively with scarcely any rest. It was 
deemed a proper thing that they should have 
such refreshment as would sustain life, and as 
they could not procure it for themselves the 
District government ordered the expense to 
be incurred. The whole amount was but 
$1,224 05 during two registrations, (pages 193 
and 194;) and when the chairman of the com- 
mittee of ways and means of the house of del- 
egates called upon the chairman of the board 
of registration for a report giving a bill of the 
items of each charge which entered into this 
expenditure it occurred to Mr. Gideon, as it 
would naturally to any one, that the request 
was little less than ridiculous, as no one could 
be expected to give the items which go to make 
up a dinner or breakfast or supper. I have 
never heard that the matter made the slightest 
impression one way or the other, but it seems 
to have made a very strong one upon the mind 
of my colleague, who displays a remarkable 
faculty for treating seriously those things which 
are jokes and resolving serious things into 
sheer absurdities and playfulness. 

WASHINGTON CANAL. 

Among other of the nightmares which have 
disturbed the sleep of the thousand citizens 
has been that which came to them in the shape 
of the closed canal. "Inundation" and "pesti- 
lence" are set down as among the milder re- 
sults that must flow from this piece of vandal- 
ism and fool-hardiness. It would be hard to 
overstate the havoc which these thousand citi- 
zens and my colleague anticipate from filling 
the canal. To have sat day after day for three 
months, as the committee did, with the canal 
question intercalated about every third day, 
and to have watched the earnest faces of the 
junta who had charge of this branch of the 
case, one would have supposed some distin- 
guished citizen was on trial for his life and 
that all the family of relatives stood around 



21 



the body as mourners. I confess several times 
to have been cruelly shocked when members 
of the committee, after two mouths' inquiry, 
and after being taken to the bedside of the 
criminal, would express themselves profanely 
on the subject and show impatience to be in 
at the execution. I pitied from my soul the 
deep suffering of Mr. Severson, who may be 
said to be the incarnation of the canal, and on 
whose broad shoulders rested the defense of 
his adopted child. 

It was kind in my colleague to lift up his 
voice in protest after the verdict and wash his 
hands of the iniquity. I believe the sweet 
odors and the gentle lullaby of the waters of 
the canal will always accompany him as a ben- 
ediction for raising his voice in its defense. I 
had supposed that the latest posterity would link 
the name of our good friend Severson with the 
cherished memory of all that was lovely in the 
blessed old canal, but I did not think my col- 
league was emulous of sharing that imperish- 
able renown. 

But the canal question is not a great joke ; 
it has its serious aspect. It was a blunder at 
first, and for these many years, almost time 
out of mind, it has been an abomination and 
reproach that would have been tolerated in no 
city except where there was charity enough to 
tolerate its advocates and listen to their coun- 
sels. Washington that was will scarcely ever 
outlive the recollection of all its earlier fol- 
lies, but when all others are forgotten, the 
ghost of this Banquo will rise to plagus the 
posterity of those who plead with a congres- 
sional committee for three mortal months that 
it might live. I cannot hope to give the testi- 
mony upon this question. It covers certainly 
one hundred pages. If one desired he might 
make a plausible argument on either side, and 
have eminent scientific authority to support 
him. This, however, is to be said of the evi- 
dence submitted against filling the canal: the 
papers put in from General Meigs, General 
Humphreys, Captain Patterson, and some 
others were papers written not so much with 
reference to tilling or opening, but they rather 
assumed that the canal was to be kept open for 
commercial and drainage purposes. If it had 
been demonstrated to these gentlemen, asithas 
been to Congress, that the drainage of the city 
could be secured by parallel sewers, and that the 
commercial advantages were to be better sup- 
plied otherwise, I doubt very much whether 
they would come to the support of the memo- 
rialists. Commercially, all must regard the 
canal as an absurdity. 

Mr. Smith, botanical gardener, says for 
nineteen years the commerce of the canal 
above Four-and-a-half street consisted of 
fifteen wood-boats, (page 638.) 

Mr. Severson, who for some years has been 
canal engineer and commissioner alternately, 
says the revenue derived from the canal has 
been about $4,000 per annum, his salary vary- 
ing during the time from $800 to $2,000 per 
annum, (page 219.) 



Mr. Wise, canal commissioner from 1852 
to 1858, says the revenue never exceeded 
$6,000 a year and the expenses were four or 
five thousand dollars, (page 657.) 

Back of these witnesses we find the strong 
common sense of President Jackson, anath- 
ematizing the commercial idea with his terri- 
ble "by the Eternal." Let me quote a pas- 
sage from Mr. Francis P. Blair's testimony, 
(page 738:) 

" By Mr. Chandler: 

" Question. How long have you resided in Wash- 
ington ? 

"Answer. I cauae here in 1830; about forty-two 
years since. 

" Question. State whether you had occasion to 
know the history and condition of the Washington 
canal since you came here. 

"Ansicer. Yes, sir; I have known a good deal of 
it. As I understand Dr. Hall, he thinks that filling 
up the canal will make it like a great sponge of 
morass, and that the feculent matter there will 
make the city unhealthy. I think the mode of fill- 
ing up should be to have it compact, as high as tho 
tide rises, and keep out the tide by water-proof 
walls at each end ; then the earth will not become 
a morass. The surface above tide- water may be 
made a sort of French drain, with rubble-stone. 
The filling completed with soil suited to the growth 
of trees would render the nuisance a beautiful 
addition to the park. 

" Question. How long have you been of the opinion 
that tlie true solution of the canal difficulty would 
be to fill it up? 

" Ansicer. General Jackson observed to me that it 
was the greatest folly in the world to bring a canal 
through the city; that we had a tide-water river, 
and that the commerce of the city should be earned 
on through that. 

" By Mr. Eldredge : 

" Question. What do you think of the canal for 
commercial purposes ? 

" Answer. 1 do not think it useful at all. 
" By Mr. Chandler: 

"Question. Thisstatementby General Jackson was 
made to you, was it? 

"Answer. Yes, sir. 

"Question. When? 

" Answer. I think in 1832 or 1833, somewhere along 
there. 

" Question. His opinion was very fixed? 

" Answer. Yes, sir; he spoke of it as the greatest 
absurdity in the world to attempt by a canal to 
supersede a tide-water river flowing along by a city, 
and make the canal the channel of its commerce. 
Wherever you see commerce along the shores of 
anyplace, it becomes dirty, unsightly, and sickly. 
The canal we see has come to this result. I>r. 
Hall concurs in this respect with the physicians of 
the Board of Health; yet I concur with him in the 
belief that if the canal were kept clean and deep 
by dredging, or a sufficient fall of water, it might 
not be so hurtful as hitherto to the city's health, 
though open in the midst of it; still its emanations 
would be unwholesome, and the noisome gatherings 
on its sides, in the name of commerce, would be a 
poor compensation to the people for the loss of the 
salubrious air, the reviving green turf, and cooling 
shades the park was meant to yield." 

It is sad to think how mountebanks and 
empirics have for over forty years made this 
cesspool the source of official salaries and the 
depository of hundreds of thou.-sauds of dol- 
lars, to the utter destruction of our beautiful 
park and the disgrace of our national capital. 

Mr. W. H. Plnliip, a very intelligent gentle- 
man, and an honest and earnest believer in 
keeping the canal open, drew before the com- 
mittee a very pretty picture of the canal 
dredged six feet below low tide, the lumber 
and coal yards removed from its banks, plant- 



22 



ing it with trees on each side, with a roadway 
and drive, throwing graceful bridges over it, 
&c, thus making it a thing of "distinctive 
beauty." (Page 226.) All this is very agree- 
able if practicable, and nothing better could 
be suggested. But this idea is incompatible 
with the commercial idea, for, as Mr. Blair 
well said, " wherever you see commerce 
along the shores of any place, it becomes 
dirty, unsightly, and sickly;" and if compati- 
ble, where are the millions to come from that 
are necessary to the realization of Colonel 
Phillip's dream ? Utility and beauty are some- 
times combined, but just how one would go 
about making a coal, wood, fish, and oyster 
wharf a fine, shaded, and grass-bordered car- 
riage drive is not easy to be seen. His grace- 
ful bridges would bother the skippers and 
their rough masts, and altogether it would 
seem to me the esthetics would become fear- 
fully entangled with the sterner and more real 
necessities of the water-course. But Colonel 
Phillip says : "I confess that if there had not 
been a Tiber there, and if it were an original 
question, I would not be in favor of making 
a canal through Washington;" or, in other 
words, "Better bear the ills we have than fly 
to those we know not of." Here is the great 
difficulty with all these opiuions. The Board 
of Public Works propose to make an original 
question of the canal and solve it accordingly. 
Nature made half of Washington city a morass, 
but that furnishes no reason for keeping it so. 
Nature gave us a Tiber, but must it always run 
an open stream through our city? Nature is 
very good in its way, but it does not build cities, 
aud it does not insist upon standing in the way 
of man in this necessity of our life. 

The fact is, the only questions connected 
with the canal worth considering are, first, 
whether, being filled, it will be more hurtful to 
health ; and second, whether sewers can be 
constructed to take its place for sewage. The 
first is a sanitary question, the second a ques- 
tion of engineering. On both the evidence is 
voluminous pro aud con; but the committee, 
summing it all up, concluded that both ques- 
tions should be answered affirmatively, and in 
this judgment Congress will probably concur 
by appropriating $68,000 to aid the board in 
filling the canal, as has been recommended by 
the Committee on Appropriations.* 

1 look upon the filling the canal as the solu- 
tion of the park question ; it reclaims and 
adds to the park about twenty-five acres ; it 
renders necessary the removal of all that can- 
cerous class of people who occupy the border 
of the canal and make commerce of their 
bodies — the only commerce, in fact, known to 
the canal for years. It connects the park 
directly with any point on Pennsylvania ave- 
nue without shock to modesty or offense to the 
olfactories, and it unites the hitherto divorced 
sections, north and south Washington. If the 



* This amount has since been appropriated, and 
thus this important question is settled by Congress. 



new government were abolished to-morrow this 
one act would justify its creation, and in my 
judgment would entitle the Board of Public 
Works to the gratitude of posterity. 

SEVENTH STREET IMPROVEMENT. 

Among other work criticised in a general 
way by my colleague is the Seventh street 
improvement, which consists of making a mac- 
adamized roadway from Boundary street, at 
the present terminus of Seventh street, to the 
District line north. The memorialists sought, 
first, to show that there were blunders in the 
engineering; second, that it was an unneces- 
sary improvement; and third, that it cost too 
much. On the first I recollect no considerable 
testimony. One man was called who nad walked 
over the road once, and thought he discovered 
a blunder. He was not an engineer ; but that 
did not disqualify him for the purposes of the 
memorialists. The criticism was made before 
the road was completed, and he had not seen 
it since ; but then he would not have been so 
good a witness if he had seen the completed 
road. After dilating somewhat upon the 
point, and leaving an impression that some 
large waste of money was the result, the bub- 
ble is pricked as follows, (page 99:) 

" Question. What would be the cost of making 
that curve as it must have been made according to 
your idea; I mean, what would be the difference 
between that cost and what you think should have 
been the cost ? 

" Answer. 1 do not know. It would necessitate a 
little change in the road. I do not suppose the cost 
would have been very great. 

" Question. Would it be enormous ? 

" Answer. No more than twenty-five or thirty dol- 
lars, perhaps." 

And so it is throughout the record. Men are 
called, who have but casually examined work, 
unskilled and ignorant of what ought to bedone 
or is being done, prejudiced and enemies of the 
government, and generally wholly unreliable as 
witnesses ; unreliable from ignorance rather 
than a purpose to deceive ; day after day is 
taken up to show mistakes that are trivial, and 
the whole making a record of seven hundred 
and fifty pages that contain no more than two 
hundred of any value. 

As to the necessity for the. improvement 
there was a cloud of witnesses to show it, and 
all the witnesses of the memorialists said the 
road very much needed improving. The intel- 
ligent testimony need not all be given. I 
quote only from one witness, Mr. hrancis P. 
Blair, (page 740:) 

"Question. Please state your opinion of the neces- 
sity of the Seventh street improvement. 

"Answer, Seventh street is the great avenue to the 
country, which is to feed the city. The several roads 
in the country that coine in toward the city may be 
represented by the fingers on ray hands, all t*nding 
toward Seventh street as the fingers to the arm. All 
the roads from the country center in the Seventh 
street road. The whole country to the north is drawn 
into it. It is a high road, five huudred teet high, 
and the whole resources of the country for the city 
come in through Seventh, and Fourteenth and North 
Capitol streets. It is, in fact, the only outlet to tho 
north from the city, and is an easy road to the 
country west. 

"Question. Your residence is about six or seven 
miles out? 



23 



"Answer. Yes. sir, about six miles from the Center 
Market. The Washington county boundary-line 
runs through my gate. 

"Question. You have traveled over the Seventh 
street road for years. What has been its condition 
for many years past? 

"Answer. It is the worst road in the world. It is 
a light soil and cuts down to the hub. While it was 
a turnpike I had to lend my horses frequently to 
drag out teams from the mud. 

"Question. What was the width of it? 

"Answer. Not more than fifteen or twenty feet, 
and cut down to the hub. The carriage-ways were 
so narrow that there was great danger in crossing 
the ravines; every ravine was a trap. They had to 
be very cautious in driving, especially in the night. 

"Question. State your opinion as to the repairs 
that hava been made in the road, whether the char- 
acter of the road as a highway and the amount of 
travel over it justified it. 

"Answer. My son, Montgomery, spent SI, 000, and 
I spent as much to get. a road. We made the road 
for ourselves because this direct city road was so bad 
a road. I would have been willing to pay on the 
turnpike, butit was at times impassable. We made 
a new one. I gave the road off from my land and 
then paid for making it. 

"Question. I wish to know whether or not you 
think the necessities of the people required the ex- 
penditures that the District authorities have made? 

"Answer. I do; I think it is the most valuable 
improvement they have made. 

"Question. You think it wise and judicious to put 
the road in as complete repair as it is now in ? 

"Answer. I do." 

The true test of all these improvements is 
their utility and desirableness, and if witnesses 
of the character of this one can be relied upon 
the Board of Public Works may well rest their 
case here. 

The objection to this road on account of its 
cost is also exploded by the testimony. Doubt- 
less a cheaper road could have been made that 
would have supplied immediate wants, but a 
highway like this one could better be improved 
for all time, and true economy justified it. It 
is the principal pleasure drive to the country ; 
it is the thoroughfare for supplies to the city ; 
it is the main artery out of and into the city, 
and valuable suburban improvements skirt its 
borders. I will not weary the argument by 
quoting testimony, but will cite a few pages 
which sustain the outlay made, (pages 88, 621, 
622, 644, and 740.) 

I have thus, Mr. Speaker, followed the 
speech of my colleague in all its deviousness, 
and have only to notice his conclusions. He 



" It is the duty of Congress, after having investi- 
gated the case and found it so black," * * * 
* "to pass some law to restrain the powers of 
this board. Not a day should be allowed to pass ere 
a stop is put to the outrages under which this city 
groans. The case is flagrant. The work performed, 
taken all in all, the entire outlay of millions of dol- 
lars, has resulted in a positive injury instead of a 
benefit. Here and there a few thousands may have 
been well laid out, although that is even doubtful, 
while as a whole it is far more injurious than bene- 
ficial. The city to-day looks as if a Vandal army 
had occupied it, and it will be years before the traces 
are removed. The citizens have suffered greatly, 
and will yet suffer more." 

I am not surprised at any conclusion short 
of condemning the board to be drawn and 
quartered to whicb my colleague may come 
after tracing the methods by which he reasons. 
He starts out by christening his speech "frauds 



of the District," and it bristles throughout with 
insinuations of fraud and corruption, and yet 
the counsel for the memorialists disclaimed 
that there was even an allegation of fraud and 
corruption, and submitted to the committee 
that it was "a fraud to represent that the in- 
vestigation has failed because the memorialist a 
have not proved what they never alleged." A 
sorry spectacle is it my colleague presents to 
this House in going further than the memo- 
rialists themselves, and iusinuatiug corruption 
which they not only admit was not proved, but 
which they assert they never alleged. The 
majority of the committee found distinctly 
that no fraud or corruption was shown, and 
my colleague failed to get his associate in the 
minority report [Mr. Crebs] to even insinuate 
fraud. 

The outrages under which the city of Wash- 
ington groans are the outrages existing in the 
minds of a class of men who are chronic fault- 
finders and professional grumblers. They are 
denouncing the Board of Public Works as ruin- 
ing them, and yet in the last year their real 
estate has advanced under the impulse of im- 
provements and the new order of government 
more than in any three years previously. The 
great body of our people repudiate all such 
opinions as my colleague expresses. They 
have no such forebodings; they have faith in 
the honesty, integrity, and capacity of our offi- 
cers; they breathe a fresher atmosphere and 
have caught a new inspiration under the "new 
departure" of the nation's capital. No man 
who says the improvements in this District are 
more injurious than beneficial can find many 
to believe him. The vast amount of informa- 
tion which the District investigation let into 
Congress only tended to contract and narrow 
the judgment of my colleague, as the light 
poured upon the eye contracts the pupil ; but 
the result was otherwise with members gene- 
rally, for in noyear within my recollection has 
Congress treated the District with greater lib- 
erality or confidence. With the awful load 
piled on to this investigation, enough to dis- 
gust Congress with the whole District without 
stopping to inquire whether the bundle con- 
tained truth or falsehood, we have gone stead- 
ily on, winning the respect and good wishes 
of thousands throughout the whole country. 
We hear of the new Washington wherever we 
go, and the whole people are awakening to a 
new interest in their seat of Government. 

The "thousand citizens," who have memo- 
rialized Congress and found one champion, it 
is hoped will cease their obstruction and oppo- 
sition. They have fought hard and pushed 
the warfare to the last resort ; they have failed 
miserably at every step. By examination of 
the tax-books four hundred and thirty-six of 
them are found to own no real estate in the 
District and pay no taxes whatever, (page 591.) 
It is found that the memorialists pay four and 
five eighths per cent, of the taxes of the Dis- 
trict and own four per cent, of the property, 
(page 597.) They have prored themselves to 



24 



be a powerful minority, for they have kept the 
District of Columbia in hot water for a year 
and have occupied a committee in Congress 
nearly an entire session. In looking back 
over this eventful period it is a source of deep 
regret to me that our citizens did not present 
an unbroken front in asking legislation for the 
District. Our harbor needs improvement ; 
our public schools demand and are entitled to 
a liberal endowment by Congress. We must 
and can enforce upon Congress the duty of 
sharing the cost of making Washington the 
finest city in the world by paying an amount 
in proportion to the Government property in 
the District ; indeed, there is much to be done 
which can only be accomplished by establish- 
ing cordial relations between the local and 
national governments. But these things can 
never be while this sensless feud is kept up 
among ourselves. We have one common in- 
terest, and it is closely linked to the national 
Government. Congress has given its verdict 
upon the indictment presented to it, and the 
District should now show its appreciation of 
this reciprocal good feeling, as I think I can 
assure the House it will. 

We lean upon the General Government be- 
cause we know this is the capital of the whole 
people of this Union, and that sooner or later 
the whole people will take a national pride 
in it. Sooner or later a public sentiment will 
grow up throughout the country which will 
demand of Congress the expenditure of money 
to beautify and adorn this capital. Sooner 
or later Congress must complete the Washing- 
ton monument, must complete the beautiful 
parks and avenues of the city, must add art 
treasures, must establish a national university, 
must make our schools models ; indeed, must 
make this the people's city instead of leav- 
ing it to be scrambled and quarreled over by 
local politicians and made a plaything by dis- 
appointed men who would regard it as a rural 
city and use it for personal gain. 

What this capital is and ought to be is so 
well portrayed by Mr. Francis P. Blair in 
his testimony that I must quote it here, (pages 
740 and 741:) 

"By Mr. Chipman: 

" Question. I would like to have your views in 
regard to the obligation that the General Govern- 
ment owes to this District to make it a proper resi- 
dence and plice for the capital of the nation. 

"Answer. The Father of his Country laid out the 
city for the nation: ho never believed that a com- 
mercial people would live here. He judged wisely 
that these broad avenues were neoessary for the 
capital of a great people like ours; he laid them 
out so that they can be parked and the health ot the 
city secured. They are laid out so that the air can 
pass through the city in every direction. These 
broad streets are parks themselves ; and this will be 
the most beautiful city the earth has ever seen. _ 

" Question. You know something of the traditions 
and the history of the location of the capital here. 
Can you state what was the purpose of the found- 
ers? 



"Answer. It was designed that it should be the 
most beautiful city of the greatest continent of the 
earth ; and it ought to have the assistance of the 
whole nation. 

" Question. You regard it, and the founders of the 
city regarded it, as a matter in which the whole 
nation has an interest? 

" Answer. Yes, sir : for such a nation as ours. It 
looks back to the Old World and sees all those great 
cities of the past built on the sand ; but this city i3 
built on an elevation. Paris is on a little stream, 
the Seine, not much broader than our canal ; but 
here is the broad Potomac ; and all these hills about 
the city are connected with the mountains, so that 
here is to be a city right at the falls of the Potomac 
which has the mountain air. Near my house you 
can see the Blue Ridge in Virginia, and Sugar Loaf 
mountain in Maryland. This region is elevated and 
healthy, above tide-water. At the District line it is 
five hundred feet above the ocean. It will not sink 
here like cities covered with the deserts of sand in 
the Old World. 

" Question. I want you to give us the traditions 
upon that subject for the use of the committee, and 
for other persons in Congress who think that the 
national Government has no obligations in this par- 
ticular. 

"Answer. I think the founders of the city enter- 
tained no such opinion. Congress has never acted 
upon that idea. Congress is the founder of this city, 
and made it what it is. It is the nation's city, and 
its very construction shows that it is made for a great 
people." 

These broad, statesmanlike views must 
commend themselves to all thoughtful Con- 
gressmen, and 1 hope to see them practically 
carried out in the next twenty-five years. 
The people of the District are doing their 
part. The officers controlling the affairs of 
the District in trust for the nation I believe to 
be inspired with some such national pride as 
I hope to see kindled in Congress ; they are 
earnest, honest, faithful, intelligent men. 
Their interests are locked up in the develop- 
ment of the capital ; they have every motivo 
to act with prudence and above all with fidel- 
ity, for the eyes of the nation are constantly 
upon them. They have gone unscathed 
through one of the severest ordeals to which 
any government was ever subjected. Mr. 
Blair but expresses the general judgment 
(page 739) when he says: 

"I believe the plans generally adopted by the 
city government the best ever suggested. They do 
honor to the taste and genius of those who designed 
them." 

I am proud, sir, of the small part I have 
taken in starting our beautiful city upon a 
new career of greatness. I am proud to have 
contributed somewhat to the overthrow of 
that spirit here which would forever keep the 
city in a slough of despond ; and more than 
all am I proud that when this work was 
brought before this House for approval or 
condemnation the American people, through 
their Representatives, pronounced the plaudit, 
"Well done, faithful servants!" I believe, 
sir, with these assurances, and this conscious- 
ness of duties honestly performed, I may 
leave my colleague and his speech to the 
judgment of the House. 



SPEECH 



HON. NORTON P. CHIPMAN 



Affairs in the District of Columbia. 



AT 



COLUMBIAN LAW COLLEGE BUILDING, 



A. mass convention: ^ 



CALLED TO RATIFY THE 



REPUBLICAN NOMINEES FOR THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES 



OF THE 
SEPTEMBER 30. 1372. 



WASHINGTON, D. C: 

REPt^LICAN JOB OFFICE rJSlNT. 

1872. 






SPEECH 



OF 



HON. N P. CHIPMAN, 

AT COLUMBIAN LAW BUILDING, 

SEPTEMBER 30, 1872. 



Mr. Prtsident and Fellow.Citizens: 

If I comprehend the meaning of this large 
congregation of citizens, it is to take counsel 
together as to the higher interests of all our 
people- It is one of the healthy regulations 
of government, in a republic like ours, that 
requires public servants to appear before flue 
people at stated intervals to give an account 
of their stewardship, and to interchange 
views as to pending questions. I am not 
here to-night to discuss national politics. 
While it is a duty which all good citizens 
owe both tojhemselves and to the public, not 
only to entertain, but to express upon all 
proper occasions their political views, yet I 
have thought that ttie real matter of interest 
to us in this community is to determine what 
will most conduce to our material welfare. 

Candidates, here as elsewhere in the coun- 
try, must be placed in nomination by party 
machinery. However much we may desire 
a reform in this particular, we r-an hardly 
hope to avoid this necessity. 

At this moment we have three candidates 
asking the suffrages of the people for Dele- 
irate to Congress. One of these eaadidates, 
[Mr. Hine, J formerly, I believe, a Republi- 
can, has accepted ttie nomination of the so- 
called Greeley Democracy. Their convention 
was made up of delegates chosen by the 
Greeley Democratic clubs in the various dis- 
tricts. The prooeedings of the convention, 
as reported by the Patriot newspaper, was 
spoken of as the proceedings of the Liberal 
Democratic convention. 

The convention was called to order by the 
chairman of the Liberal Democratic Central 
Committee, [Mr. Dickson.] The chairman 
chosen by the convention [Dr. Baldwin] de- 
clared ki his opening remarks as follows: 
" We war against a combination of national 
otad territorial power." 

I suppose no one will question the fact, 
therefore, that in the person of Mr. Hine we 
have a candidate representing the Democratic 
party of the District, who is running as a 
Democratic candidate, and whose success if 
elected will be heralded throughout the coun- 
try as the success of the Democratic oarty. 

In the person of Mr. Boswell we 'have a 
candidate of the bolting Republicans, whose 



object in running, no intelligent person wilt 
question, is to contribute to the election of 
Mr. Hine. The evidences are too plain to be 
misunderstood. 

The first uominee of the bolting Republi- 
cans was Mr. LeBarnes. The convention 
which placed him in nomination repudiated 
Mr. Boswell's claim, and denounced him as 
unworthy of confidence, yet it was conscious 
of the fact, that to be successful a coalition 
with the Democracy must ensue, some trading 
might be necessary, or an exchange of 
candidates become essential, and it therefore 
di_d not adjourn sine die, as is the universal 
rule iu nominating conventions, but it ad- 
journed to meet at the call of the chairman. 

It is well known that since that adjourn- 
ment the manipulators of that convention 
have been in daily communication with the 
Greeley Democracy of the district, aud they 
were waiting only for an opportune moment 
te make an assignment of their strength ; 
assure the defeat of the Republican nominee. 
True to the original design of this bolting 
Republican movement, the chairman con- 
vened the delegates on the day fixed lor the 
assembling of the Democratic convention. 
When the convention met one of the" dele- 
gates presented the following letter : 

"You are authorized to announce at any 
proper time my withdrawal as a candidate 
for Delegate to Congress. 

"Yours, very truly, J. W. LeBarnes." 

The whole scheme was well understood, for 
immediately upon the reading of this letter a 
half dozen of the handful of delegates sprang 
to their feet to nominate Mr. Boswell. 

It is very difficult to hatch a political con- 
spiracy to which there are several pax ties 
without there being one in the number impru- 
dent enough to develop its purpose prema- 
turely. The leaky man in this cabal was Mr. 
O. D. Barrett, who arose immediately, and 
said that "he thought, iuas'muehas there wa- 
another convention" [alluding to the Demo- 
cratic convention J "in session in the city, that 
a committee should be appointed to confe> 
with that convention, to endeavor to select a 
candidate upon which both couventions could 
unite, and therefore moved that the motiou 
to nominate Mr. Bov.vell bv acclamation be 



laid on the table temporarily, and that a com- 
mittee be appointed to consult with the con- 
servative convention." 

It was manifest, however, to cooler heads 
that this would never do— that it would neces- 
sarily drive from their support conscientious 
Republicans who had attached themselves to 
the bolting movement. The convention, there- 
fore, rejected Mr. Barrett's proposition by a 
vote of 27 to 18, and at 3 o'clock took a re- 
cess to carry out the real purpose of Mr. Bar- 
rett'6 motion. The efforts which followed in 
the next few hours to consummate this politi- 
cal conspiracy were alike disgraceful to those 
who claimed to be Republicans as well as to 
those Democrats who tried to make common 
cause with them. 

I have deemed it to be my duty to strip this 
movement of its disguise in order that no 
person may be deluded by any pretence that 
either Mr. Hine or Mr. Boswell may set up. 
It is as absurd as fraudulent for either Mr. 
Hine or Mr. Boswell to present themselves 
lor support upon the theory that they are not 
running as party candidates. I leave them 
to reap such harvest as they may by such a 
course. 

I have not myself been in political lifelong 
enough to be able to distinguish any differ- 
ence between political dishonesty and any 
other dishonesty. I have an old-fashioned 
notion that a man who would attempt to 
cheat his neighbor out of his ballot is not too 
good to possess himself of other of his neigh- 
bor's effects. 

But, my friends, I despise a personal war- 
fare, and I shall make none. If the good 
people of the District prefer as their agent in 
Congress either of these gentlemen to myself 
they should so declare on the day of election. 
The question to be decided in this choice is 
a narrow one, and involves an answer to the 
one simple inquiry: Which of the three can- 
didates can probably, under all the circum- 
stances, be of the most service to the District 
of Columbia ? 

The Republican party, by a primary elec- 
tion held after due notice, have honored me 
with the nomination. To the principles of that 
party I have heretofore given and now give 
an unqualified adherence. But in accepting the 
Domination, I declared it as my belief that 
the paramount duty of your Delegate in Con- 
gress is to labor for the material welfare of 
all the people. His position is a peculiar one, 
and totally distinct from that of a Represen- 
tative in Congress who has a vote. It is re- 
garded as somewhat 6avoring of imperti- 
nence for a Delegate to mingle generally in 
the political discussions in Congress, or to 
participate in general debate. To be suc- 
cessful he must avoid antagonisms in the 
House of Representatives, and bend his 
whole efforts to the measures immediately 
concerning his constituents. He must not 
only avoid antagonisms in the House, but he 
must be in harmony with the national and 
local administrations. This is peculiarly true 
In the case of the Delegate from the District 
of Columbia. The interest of the general 
Government and our own are so closely in- 
terwoven that the one depends much upon 
the other. 

Appropriations made by the General Gov- 
ernment, to be expended here, are almost 



equivalent to appropriations made directly 
to the people of the District. Every public 
square and park that is improved, and every 
public building that is erected, is so much 
wealth added to the community, and your 
Delegate, if judicious, watchful and devoted 
to his duty, may contribute largely to this 
class of appropriations — more than any other 
member of Congress; but he will be power- 
less to aid in this direction if he has not the 
confidence and respect of the officers of the 
General Government, through whom the ne- 
cessity for these appropriations is brought 
to the attention of Congress. But this is 
much more true when we consider appro- 
priations that are asked for our own benefit, 
and in which the Government is only indi- 
rectly interested. This class of appropria- 
tions must originate with your local gov- 
ernment, and your Delegate is the. medium 
through whom the wishes of your officers 
are made known. 

If he goes into Congress in open hostility 
to the government of your choice and the 
officers selected to represent you, it must be 
plain to all that he can accomplish but little. 

We have had the bitter fruits in years 
past of attempts being made in Congress 
to secure appropriations for the District 
where there was no harmony or concert of 
action. A single instance will illustrate my 
meaning: 

Last fall the Board of Public Works, in lav- 
ing certain pavements and sewers, expended 
some $225,000 along and in front of Govern- 
ment property. They asked me to assist 
them in securing an appropriation to reim- 
burse the District for this expenditure. If, 
instead of uniting with the board to accom- 
plish this, I had done what certain memo- 
rialists to Congress last winter suggested, 
and had in my place denounced the board 
and the improvements for which they had 
charge* the Government this amount, the 
appropriations would undoubtedly have 
failed. I did not feel authorized to take such 
a course. 

I felt that it would have been a violation oi 
the higher interests of the whole people to 
gratify the feelings of a few persons who are 
inimical to the local government, and I could 
not refuse to act as the better judgment of 
all will admit was the right course to take. 
But I will not discuss further a position 
which seems to me self-evident. 

WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED IN ONE SESSION. 

I suppose, my friends, it is my duty as your 
candidate to present as strong a case for re- 
election as the facts will warrant. I beg you 
may not think that I am speaking of myself 
personally, but that I am rather speaking in 
behalf of one whom you desire to represent 
you in Congress. 

You want to know what has been sccom- 
plished, as well as what are the hopes of the 
future. Let me then remind you of some of 
the results which followed from your having 
a Delegate in Congress at the last session. . i 
have gone carefully over the appropria- 
tion acts for the year ending June, 1872, and 
compared those made in those acts for the 
District of Columbia with the appropriations 
made for the year ending June, 1873, at the. 
last session of Congress, and I find that the 
amount appropriated last winter in excess of 



that appropriated the year previous is $2,- 
720.507.44. 

Without occupying your time by mention- 
ing the items of appropriations made to the j 
District which make up this difference, I will 
only say that an examination of the acts 
will show that a large proportion of this dif- 
ference is composed of sums appropriated 
directly to the District. We got for rebuild- 
ing a chain bridge, $100,000; for the reform 
school, $100,000; for a new jail, 8300,000; for 
the purchase of two squares from our citi- 
zens to extend the Capitol grounds, $400,- 
000, to which will be added next winter $200,- 
000 more, to complete the purchase; to reim- 
burse the District government for improve- 
ments made, $260,000; to complete the pur- 
chase of the Columbia hospital, over $50,- 
000; in aid of the Columbia Institute for the 
Deaf and Dumb, $140,000; for the Freedman's 
hospital, $32,000, aud others which I will not 
mention. 

FUNDING BILL AND FOUR-MILLION LOAN. 

Among the things accomplished I may 
mention several acts of a general character, 
of more or less importance to the District. 
Among; these acts is one to fund certain lia- 
bilities of the city of Washington existing 
when the new government came into power. 
This was a very important measure to our 
peoplft. By its provisions several important 
questions were settled. It authorized the 
commissioners of the sinking fund of the Dis- 
trict to call in and fund the old floating debts, 
not exceeding $1,150,000; second, it limited 
taxes in any one year to two per cent, on the 
assessed cash valuation of property; third, it 
declared void one of the $4,000,000 loan acts 
passed by our Legislature, and ratified one of 
the acts; fourth, it declared that the debt of 
the District of Columbia shall at no time ex- 
ceed the sum of $10,000,000, unless previously 
authorized by Congress, 

This is a very important law to our people, 
and it is a complete answer to all charges 
made that the District government possesses 
unlimited power to increase our debt and our 
taxes, and I feel that it is due to the officers 
of our District government to say that they 
co-operated with me in securing the passage 
of this act. 

RIVER AND HARBOR IMPROVEMENT. 

Another important bill which I introduced, 
aud assisted in passing, was an act creating 
a board of survey to examine and report to 
Congress the condition of our river front, 
from the Navy Yard to the head of tide- 
water above Georgetown. It was well un- 
derstood, when the measure passed, that it 
was intended to secure a report from high 
officers of the Government to be used as a 
basis for a sufficient appropriation to con- 
struct a harbor along the front of Washing- 
ton and Georgetown. 

WASHINGTON MONUMENT. 

Another bill introduced by me was to make 
an appropriation of $200,000 to aid in the 
completion of the Washington Monument. 
At the expense of a good deal of labor and 
time I presented to the committee a complete 
his ry of the work upon the monument, aud 
the present condition of efforts to complete 



it. The committee considered the subject, 
and made a report, which was referred to the 
Committee on Appropriations, recommend- 
ing the passage of the bill. 

AID TO THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. 

I also introduced a bill making an appro- 
priation of $25,000 annually, to aid in the sup- 
port of our fire department. The House 
passed the bill after considerable discussion, 
and' it is now upon the calendar in the Sen- 
ate, with a favorable report from the Senate 
District Committee. 

ENDOWMENT OF PUBLiC SCHOOLS. 

I also introduced a bill making an appro- 
priation of two and a half million acres of 
public domain as au endowment of our pub- 
lic schools. I spoke at some length in Con- 
gress upon this measure, and presented what 
I think all will admit who will read the argu- 
ment a complete demonstration of our claim 
to this aid. My remarks upon that occasion 
have reached the people to some extent^ and 
I hope have received their approval. The bill 
is uow pending before three different commit- 
tees of (jongress, where I had it referred. I 
feel a stroug hope that with proper efforts we 
may be aole to pass it. 

INCREASING POLICE FORCE. 

A bill is also pending, which I introduced, 
upon tvhich much work was done, providing 
for an increase in our police force, which is 
much needed. Several other bills of more or 
Itess importance are also pending, upon which 
considerable labor has been bestowed in 
bringing them to the attention of Congress. 
I speak of these measures in this connection 
to show that the Delegate whom you select 
to manage your interests in the 
next two years will commence his 
labors with a large and important docket be- 
fore him. It would be difficult for any new 
man to take up this work where it has been 
left off, yet it may be your judgment that one 
of the other cindidates beside myself can do 
this work for you Letter than your present 
representative, and as one of those interested 
in the success of all measures of importance 
to our people, I desire that you settle the 
question without regard to personal prefer- 
ences, and seud the' best man to accomplish 
this work. 

THE TWO LEADING MEASURES NOW PENDING. 

The two measures now pending, to which 
I shall give, if elected, my special and par- 
ticular attention, are, first, the bill to endow 
our public schools, and second, that to im- 
prove our river front. Upon both these I 
have a large amount of valuable material, 
for which T am much indebted to the man- 
agers of our public schools in one case, and 
to Capt. Patterson, of the coast survey, in the 
other. These gentlemen have been untir- 
ing in their efforts to assist me in obtaining 
the facts necessary to a complete presentation 
of our case to Congress. In the matter of 
public schools its importance will be under- 
stood when we remember that over one third 
of our present tax goes to the support of pub- 
lic schools. We are paying sixty cents on 
the $109 on taxable real property, while Chi- 
cago pays but sixteen cents, Boston seven- 



teen cents. Baltimore twenty-three rente, 
ielphia twenty-six cents, Cincinnati 
-five cents. St. Louis and San Francisco 
- and while we are making this 
strain upon onr means the app 
fact stares us in the face that over nineteen 
thousand children in the District of Columbia 
are deprived of the t^eans of att-.. 
lie schools. 
I showed from the public records that about 
SO. 000, 000 acres of the public domain have 

- appropriated for public school u 

states and Territories, while not one acre 

e en appropriated to the District of Co- 

ia, I showed also that cur large school 

'population was attributable in part to the 

presence of the capital of the nation here: 

ne third of our children attending 

schools are the children of Government em- 

: loyees, maDy of whom ray no taxes to the 

- -It. I also showed that while we have 
received nothing from the Government to 
aid onr schools, our commerce or oar manu- 

. s. that -vc Lave paid into the Govern - 

- : Treasury more revenue, exclusive of 
taxes on salaries, than ail the other Terri- 
tories combined, and i omen as the 
tcree great States of Kansas. .Nebraska and 
Minnesota, 

Much of the argnmei t q this su 
is equally applicable to the necessity for im- 
proving "our harbor. I believe tfe : 
irapresiion has been made upon the mh 
>f many members of Congress that we are 
entitled" to ample aid in this direction. I 
know that in many instance^ members have 
so expressed themselves to me. If 
tinne to present a stronir. consistent, de- 

ned and undivl I in urging 

these matters we shall obtain what we de- 
sire; I rat, if we are to continue this in- 
testine war among ourselves, and at each 
succeeding session of Congress shall : 
fer that struggle to the Kails of Ccn_ - 
we may at once abandon all hope c : 
But I will not longer trespass upon your 

in speaking of these matter?. L 
address myself a moment to some of the 
causes of irritation in our midst, and : 
some of the objections, as I have heard 
to my re-election. 

OUK DEE7. 

There are many in our midst who ha 1 
indefinite fear that the District is becoming 
overwhelmed in a large debt, .vhich threatens 
■■ankruptcy. depression of property, and gen- 
eral ruin. During the course of the in 
.ration of District affairs by Congress last 
winter the books and records of the District 
rnment were literally turned inside out 
and exposed to the committee. The matter 
r debt was particularly dwelt upx>u. In 
making their report to Congress, thecommit- 
•esented a clear and concise statement 
A our debt, presenting- every item. 

There has been no law increasing the debt 
since that time, and we may take that report 
,s 1 resenting the exact condition of the debt 
a: present. I think it of sufficient import- 
ance to read that portion of the report : 

TBEE STATEMENT OF TEE DISTRICT MET. 

-The indebtedness of the eld corporation was 
ascertained by aboard convened to audit ate 



marshal the old de::s. They reported, as the 

committee find: 

Wasninctcn. U. C tZ,96S,eS3 27 

G-eoreetown. D. C B,* 

Levy Court District o: Columtii ••.- - 

I . -. indebtedness of the lateeor- 
; rati us * -'-' 382 4- 

"The board further re] art as i litional in- 
debtedness of the corporation Washington 

the foliowicg: 

i .. - . ,:-. 

Special tax fund $22,874 cu 

Y.'ater fund - " - 

Canal fund 

Ten-year bond sinking fund '—■- £-44 58 

. amount trust fan is ---' -"-" ; - 

••The las: amount was misapplied by the cor- 
poration of Washington by usIul- trust funds : 
pay current expenses of the corporation, and 
thus .: became a debt for which there^ govern- 
ment is forced to provide. 

■•In addition to the forego :ng -were sertaii | 

completed contracts which maybe reu-arced as 
i - I imposed »y the old upon "the new govern- 
ment. These were for the cons:: I school- 
houses and paving of certain streets. and amount 
I J707 - ". 

'•There was also to be provided for certain 
overdue and current interest up ;n cue : c is 
the late corporations of G :-'. I _ n ana Wash- 
ington, which was paid by the new government. 
and thus went to swell the debl upon 

the District, This amounts to >: : . 

••The total indebtedness thus se: forth, and 
for which the District covernmon: ::: I 
vide, amounts to A4.c;l,U'. " " . 

••The indebtedness created by the new govern- 
ment appears from the report of the eomp treller 
asfc Uews : 

District of Coll- 
July 10, ISTl-Permanent-imprLvement bonds: 
authorized. V not is- 

sued. ► - 2,000,000 00 

July 20, 1871— Water-stock bonds, 450,000 00 
Angus! •- . 1871— Market-stock I 

authorized, f-3C-i. 1 sued 

• : • "1 — Chicago- relief t : - 

au:i {300,060. N't issued 

Total 

The comptroller exclude* tie unissued bonds. 

but the committee regard the bonds as a debt. 

although net yet issued, which gives .. - - 

of $4,860,000 00 

Adding to this tlie amount of the 

debt of old corporation above given 4 3SL297 37 

Making- total debt of the District cf 

unbia «:.;':. 29r_r: 

Thus it will be seen the amount is below 
the limit of $lO,O0Q,O00a£ placed .-res- 

in the act to which I have already called at- 
tention. This debt. I assort, cannot be in- 
creased beyond 8 10. C00. 000. except by act of 
Congress, and any increase that 

amount would be roid, besides involving all 
persons who should attempt to increase 
hopeless dishonor. It is agai? stalltl 
abilities of the case to suppose that the offi- 
cers of our District government -- : eld ?o in- 
volve th ems.. 

OCR TAXEi. 

The same class of persons who entertaii 
s as to an indefinite increase of our 

debt, very naturally c nclcde that a 
large increase of our taxes m : and 



lLat is doubtless true if the debt should be 
largely increased: but the mistake is in imag- 
ining the debt larger than it is. 

Tax-payers Lave noticed that the per cent. 
is the same that it was the year previous to 
the new government; that is. $1.70 upon 
$100, which is 10 cents less than during one 
year cf Mr. Bowec's administration. 

I think it redounds greatly to the credit of 
onr District government that it has been 
able, without increasing our taxes, to carry 
en such large improvements as are being 
made, and to do so much to lift our city into 
the lore-front of the great cities of the 
Union. We are to-day paying the sinking 
lend upon the $4,000,000 loan, with which to 
gradually discharge the principal. We are 
I aying the interest upon that loan; we are 
paying the interest on the old debt together 
with the sinking fund necessary to discharge 
a large portion cf its principal; we are pay- 
i . the interest and sinking fund on our 
water and market bonds; in short, we are 
carrying on tiie whole machinery cf goveru- 
oent, paying its debt gradually, and making 
a)] these improvements without increasing 
the tax one periny. 

I know that it is answered that while the 
per cent, on taxes is not increased, the as- 
sessment upon real property has been largely 
increased, and thus indirectly the taxes are 
increased. I think there is a great misap- 
prehension upon this point also. I desire in 
this connection to read you a communica- 
tion, which I have received from the superin- 
tendent of assessments and taxes. It is as 

follows: 
Office Supebjkx'x cf Assessm'.; s asm Taxes,; 

WASHttKIG.N, 1>. V., Aug. ill, 1672. > 

Bon. jv. r. Chfpman: 

Sir: In reply to your communication of this 
J&te, inquring in relation to the comparative 
value assessed upon the taxable properly of the 
District, 1 beg to state that the total assessment 
of taxable property for the current tiscal year is 
ij>85, 960,863. Total assessment for last fiscal 
year was as follows: 

.fleal estate £74,845,698 

Personal property ft,267,5C2 

$86,103,260 

The bill imposing taxes tor the present fiscal 
year, approved June 2o, 1872, relieves all per- 
sonal property from taxation, thus necessitating 
the wtcle revenue to be raised from $85,960,863 
cl real estate. 

The board of appeals adjourned after a session 
continuing over seventy days of active service, 
and 1 believe the acts of the board gave general 
satisfaction. Indeed, some gentlemen expressed 
themselves fully satisfied with the action of the 
board, that subsequently denounced the assess- 
ments both publicly and privately. It is possi- 
ble that in a few instances the assessmemt of 
property may be in excess of the valuation, but 
in my opinion the total assessment is not more 
tnan seventy-five per cent, of the cash value of 
the property. 

The new assessment will commence in a few 
wetiis, and any injustice that has been done any 
individual in making the last assessment can be 
readily remedied. 

1 have an excellent opportunity to hear opin- 
ions of the representative men ol all our people 
in relation to the last assessment, and I hazard 
the opinion that ninety per cent, of the property- 
holders are fully satisfied that the last is the 
most equal, and therefore the best, assessment 
ever made in the District of Columbia. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

II. A. Hall. 



It will be observed that after all this talk 
about doubling and trebling the value of 
property there have been added less than 
•* 10, 000, 000 to its value, while on the other 
hand over $ 11,000,000 have been taken off by 
relieving personal property from taxation. " 

Major Hall's letter is a complete answer to 
those persons who are endeavoring to shov,> 
that the assessment has been improperly en- • 
larged, and I leave this branch of the sub- 
ject without further comment. 

SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS. 

There is still another branch of the sat] 
ject of taxes which should be mentioned in 
this connection. I refer to the special as- 
sessments. You are aware that under th» 
$4,000,000 loan act that loan was to cover 
two thirds of the cost of the proposed improve- 
ments, and in addition to that authority was 
given to levy a special tax upon all property 
improved, covering the other third, or, fn the 
aggregate, 82,000,000 more. 

Before the new government came into 
power property improved was assessed for 
the whole cost. Under our organic act, which 
cannot be changed except by Congress, prop- 
erty improved is assessed but one third. The 
advantage of this to all, I think, is sometimes 
overlooked; and if the people could be re- 
mitted back to the old system, and made to 
pay for these improvements, under that sys- 
tem they would, by comparison, appreciate, 
the difference. It is difficult to institute a. 
comparison between the improvements now 
being made and those of former years, for 
the reason that they differ in character essen- 
tially, and are generally upon streets not 
heretofore improved. One example, how- 
ever, will illustrate my point : 

Pennsylvania avenue was paved from the 
Capitol to tbe Treasury Department under the 
old law. It was paved with a wood pavement, 
and cost the property-holder nearly $20 per 
front foot. A wood pavement has since been 
laid under the new government on a po:tif e, 
of the avenue from Eighteenth street to 
Georgetown, at a cost of $4.40 per front fcot 
to the property-holders. This difference is. 
due, in part, to the fact that the Board of 
Public Works are laying the same pavement 
now for twenty-five or thirty per cent, less 
than the old corporation laid it ; but the 
change is largely due to the change in pro- 
portion of these assessments. The theory, 
of the present law is, that the paving of a. 
street is beneficial to the whole community, 
and the whole community should share in 
paying for it; and we must not forget that 
that proportion paid for by the whole com- 
munity out of the $4,000,000 Joan is paid 
withopt increasing our taxes ; so that the in- 
dividual property-holder gets these improve- 
ments for one third what he used to pay, and 
he pays no more, nor does auy one else pay 
more into the general fund. 

I am leaving out in this calculation the cos!- 
of laying sewers and making the necessary 
connections with the property. Without 
going further in this direction, I will venture 
to assert that in no instance where like im- 
provements have been made under the new 
and old governments will there not appear j- 
similar favorable result. 



THE MODE OF ASSESSMENTS. 

A large number of our small . property- 
holders are nervous lest these special assess- 
ments suall prove so oppressive that they 
will be compelled to sell their homes. I must 
remind these persons that if there is any- 
thing oporessive in the present mode of as- 
i essments, the people themselves are respon- 
sible for it. The law as it now exists was 
embodied in the $4,000,000 loan act. It was 
submitted to the people for their approval, 
and they approved the law by a vote of over 
thirteen to one. The subject was at that 
time fully canvassed, and, I suppose, was 
nuderstood by all. 

But let us take the matter as it is, and deal 
with it accordingly. Let me endeavor to 
make this plain. Under the present law, 
after the improvements are made and a cer- 
tificate of their cost is signed, the property 
holder has thirty days in which to pay with- 
out interest. At the expiration of thirty days 
the certificate draws ten per cent, interest 
per annum, and runs one year as a lien upon 
ihe property. After the expiration of one 
vear the property may be sold and a 
"deed given bv the Governor if the certifi- 
cate is not paid, but the owner has the 
right of redemption by paying fifteen per 
cent, per annum at any time within two 
yfears after the date of sale. 

Now, go back a moment, and let us see 
•whether' this law is really very oppressive. 
As a matter of fact, I do not believe there 
can be found a law in any of the States more 
liberal than this. In some of the States I 
know that if the taxes are not paid within 
a reasonable time, the property holder 
must pay twenty-five and thiriy-three and 
one third per cent, forfeiture. But take 
our own law and look at it. Money is 
always worth in this community ten per cent. 
per annum, so that if the property holder 
prefers not to pay his tax for one year, the 
Interest amounts to no more than he could 
get for his money any day, or than he would 
■have to pay if he borrowed the money. At 
the end of the year the whole of the assess- 
ment must be "paid or he is liable to be sold 
out; but this assessment is only one third of 
the cost a£ the improvement. 

Now, under the old law he had three years 
in which to pay, at 10 per cent, paying one- 
third each year, so that in paying the whole 
of the assessment at the end of one year, 
under the present law he is really paying no 
more than he used to pay in discharging one- 
third of the assessment, while there still re- 
mained over his property a debt of twice this 
amount; in other words, if the assessment, 
under the old law, was 8100, to be paid in 
three years, in annual installments of ySV, 
at the end of one year he paid as much, in 
discharging one-tkirdbt his indebtedness, 'as 
he now pays at the end of one year in dis- 
charging his whole indebtedness. 

I have, Ithink, made myself plain thus far. 
Let me go' one step further. Some of these 
■improvements are expensive. In some in- 
stances deep cuts and fillings have been 
made, which involve an extraordinary ex- 
pense. Some of you have the impression that 
this class of improvements will entail a larger 
expense than you can pay at the end of one 



year, aud you a,re demanding some law upon 
the subject which will give you the benefit cf 
further time without paying a large interest. 
Upon that subject my mind is clear, that if 
these improvements should prove burden- 
some to that class of property-holders, some 
law should be passed by the Legislative As- 
sembly which will give adequate relief. It 
may be in the form of a loan similar in prin- 
ciple to the $4,000,000 loan. It may be in the 
form of a funding bill somewhat similar to the 
act of Congress passed to fund the old city in- 
debtedness; but in whatever form the wisdom 
of our people should decide upon, it shall have 
my support. The only persons who can have 
any interest in preventing you from securing 
some such aid are the money sharks and 
property speculators who desire to possess 
themselves of your homes by purchases at 
tax sales. 

I am not a friend to this class of specula- 
tors, and I cannot conceive it possible that 
the persons whom you send to the Legisla- 
ture, or that the officers of the District gov- 
ernment, will ever lend themselves to a con- 
spiracy to rob you of your homes. The law 
wisely abhors tax titles. 

At present none of us know precisely what 
remedy should be applied, for the assess- 
ments have not yet been made to any consk' - 
erable extent, but they will have been made 
by the time your Legislature meets and Con- 
gress assembles, and you will know by that 
time what your grievances are, and what the 
remedy should be, and so far as I am per- 
sonally concerned my interest in this mat- 
ter is precisely your interest, and my conduct 
will be guided entirely by your wishes. 

GREELEY OP. GRANT ? 

Mr. President, while I have ignored the dis- 
cussion of national politics, there is one view 
of the pending Presidential contest which I 
must not omit. 

Mr. Hine is the Greeley candidate for Del- 
egate. Mr. Bosweli's votes are so many votes 
for Mr. Hine. The efforts of these two men 
have no other meaning, politically, than the 
election of a Greeley candidate. Mr. Hine's 
election is the verdict of toe District of Co- 
lumbia that our people prefer Mr. Greeley to 
General Grant as President. In this view let 
us see what iugrates, not to say fools, we 
would make of ourselves. 

Mr. Greeley has never spoken one kind 
word of Washington ; on the contrary, he has 
abused the people and the city even worse 
than he has abused the Democrats ; and while 
he has repented of the latter course, and has 
gone over to that party, he has not changed 
his opinions towards the capital. 

If you will trace his views back as early as 
1S53 down to the present you will find that 
he has been the open enemy of Washington 
city. I have gone to the trouble to turn over 
the files of the Tribune, and will show some 
of his opinions. 

WHAT HORACE GREELEY KNOWS ABOUT THE 
WASHINGTON AQUEDUCT. 

" If there is any good reason why the people 
of the whole country should pay the municipal 
exponses of the city of Washington, or furnish 
its citizens with public improvements, which in 
other places are paid for fe>y means cf taxation, 



that mysterious and ualaiown reason ought to 
be revealed. Whether the sum required for 
such purposes be counted by tens of millions cr 
hundreds of thousands, the inhabitants of other 
nlaces ought to be furnished with acme philo- 
sophical or political principle to justify the fa- 
voritism. Captain Meigs, the engineer, while 
venturing upoa the surprisieg assertion that an 
aqueduct fourteen miles long and nine feet in 
diumeter will not cost more to build than his 
preliminary estimate, say3 the country ought to 
gratify the people of Washington with such 
large and costly \viUer-works because the public 
records are kept ;here. The gallaat Captain 
apparently forgets ihat the buildings ia which 
these records are preserved have been made 
tire-proof, aud that at a heavy outlay. He for- 
gets that the edifices that especially need a 
great supply of water, if one be needed at all, 
are the perishable buildings belonging to the 
citizens of Washington and Georgetown. For 
their security it may be very proper to build an 
aqueduct at vast expense, and to bring down 
trom the falls of the Potomac the watersof that 
lamous river in full current; but the tax-payers 
of Georgetown and Washington should stand 
the cost of the work." — Tribune, March 2, 1334. 

Our citizens who objected to our bringing 
in the new thirty-six-inck main at a cost of 
$450,000 can appreciate the narrowness of 
the man who would entail the whole cost of 
Che aqueduct upon us. 

Let me quote again from Mf, Hine's candi- 
date for the Presidency : 

WHAT HORACE GREELEY' KNOWS ABOUT THE 
WASHINGTON MONUMENT. 

"We have received a very polite request to 
call the attention of the public to the claims of 
the monument to Washington now building at 
the federal capital, the Fourth of July being 
deemed a very proper day to solicit donations in 
aid of that patriotic structure. In giving place 
to this statement it seems to be a duty also to 
remind our readers of the reasons why, in- 
stead of contributing to the monument, they 
should give nothing at all. Briefly, it is a mon- 
ument not fct to be built, because its architectu- 
ral design grossly violates every principle of 
artistic taste. It is to be a tall obelisk with a 
Grecian temple around its base, much like a 
pumpkin with a stake driven through it into 
the ground. A more ignorant and hideous de- 
sign could not well be made; and if the work i3 
over completed, it will be a deformity tv the city 
afflicted by it, that will be the more offensive 
by its great prominence. To fix the immortal 
name of Washington to such a thing will only 
render it the more incongruous and disagreea- 
ble, and we sincerely advise every one not only 
to give nothing himself, but to use his influence 
to prevent others from giving. The city of 
Washington is sufficiently well furnished with 
monumental enormities by Congress, which 
paid for Clark Mills' ridiculous Jack3on, and is 
to pay for his pqually or more ridiculous Wash- 
ington, to render it only proper that private cit- 
izens should do nothing to increase the eye- 
sores ot that unlucky town. And we trust that 
nobody will be induced to give "on the pathetic 
appeal that without such aid the work of build- 
ing the monument must stop, and the country 
be thereby disgraced. Don't be humbugged. 
The disgrace would be in finishing it; not in 
taking it down and putting its stones to s~me 
truly useful or ornamental purpose. "—F,o- U 
iVcio York Tribune, July i, 1854. 

Just now we are endeavoring to complete 
this monument. Congress appropriated $15,- 
090 last winter to improve the grounds. The 
District Committee recommended an appro- 
priation of $200,000 to commence the work 
of completing the monument. Heaven spare 
us from a President who would veto a bill 



which, is necessary to redeem the country 
from the disgraceful neglect of the memory 
of the Father of his Country. 
I quote again: 

MR. GREELEY'S CONTEMPT FOit WASHINGTON. 

"I find Washiugton enlarged and visibly 
growing, though stiil scattered and straggling, 
a 'city of magnificent distances' iadeed. Its 
dirty little crooked Tiber is the same succession 
of foul puddles, too petty to afford scope for any 
but very young ducks; its. business naturally 
bisected into: 1. Getting money out of the Fed- 
eral Treasury; aad 2. Spending it. I note, 
therefore, with deep regret the undeniable growth 
of the city, since "it implies no other industry 
but that which is isapelled by the reception or 
the hope of Treasury oabulum. Every new 
street built up in Washington implies another 
million dollars abstracted from the fuad which 
ought to be improving our rivers aad harbors 
and pushing the Pacific railroad across the 
Plains and the Rocky Mountains. Every new 
block erected here argues that the people of this 
country are to pay more for less benefit from 
their Federal Government than hitherto." 

HE OPPOSED TQE CAPITOL EXTENSION. 

"The Capitol extension is a fair sample of the 
general drift here. The Capitol was amply 
large enough and good enough without it. Not. 
more than two thirds of it is in use, or likely to 
be; the halls of the two Houses are spacious; 
there was no need of any change whatever. 
Yet two wings have for some three or four years 
been in progress, which will cost millions of dol- 
lars before they are finished, fitted up and 
furnished; aad then it will be seen that the old 
Capitol, thus flanked, is too squat and iasignifl- 
cant— that it needs raising thirty to fifty feet— 
in effect, to be pulled down aud built over 
again. But the people never losk into nor care 
about such matters— they do not know, ask nor 
care whether their representatives respectively 
vote for or against them— so let them pass."— 
Tribune, December 5, 1833. 

My friends, if I were to utter such senti- 
ments I couldn't get fifty votes for Delegate, 
and yet there will be many hundreds of votes 
cast here for a candidate who is running to 
contribute to the election of a man as Presi- 
dent who will have it in his power to enforce 
these sentiments. Will you elect him ? 

But, again hear him: 

WHAT HORACE GREELEY KNOWS ABOUT THE 
NEW STATS DEPARTMENT. 

"A commission has been perplexing itself in 
Washington with an attempt to decide in what 
part of the city the new State Department build- 
ing shall be erected. Would it not be wise to 
make sure that the new offices will be needed in 
any part of Washiagtoa ? What folly to plan 
cut new Government buildings when the verv 
capital i3 tottering on its foundation stones, and 
threatening to rua away to New York or St. 
Louis. In our opinion the best site for the new 
State Department would be on the Fifth ave- 
nue, facing the Central Park, aad the other 
Departmeats should staud in a row along the 
same street."— N. Y. Tribune, Aug, 10, 1889. 

You ali know, Mr. President, that the 
efforts to remove the capital were culminating 
at that time. The appropriation for the State 
Department was a test question, and here we 
have Mr. Greeley's views. He gave his whole 
influence against the appropriation, and he 
did so because he favored the 

REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL. 

When that peripatetic capital remover, Mr. 
Reavis, had prepared in book form his argu- 



10 



sent in favor of removing the capital be sent 
it all over the country. Mr. Greeley was Lis 
particular friend, and he reviewed the book 
and gave wide publicity to the argument. I 
read you one of the many editorials of the 
Tribune en this vital question: 

''We have not a doubt that New York is the 
most desirable point in the Union for the loca- 
tion of its capita). Nine tenths of our own peo- 
ple, whose duties constrain to reside or sojourn 
at the capital, with ten tenths of the Old World's 
embassadors and other visitants, would decidedly 
prefer it. Art, literature, the drama, music and 
everything tbat interests or delights mankind, 
are more abundantly and cheaply enjoyed nere 
than elsewhere in the New "World. Moreover, 
•:ar, politics and municipal political rule are so 
f rcroughly rotten that even the presence cf Con- 
gress and the Federal Departments could not 
tirther corrupt them. 

•• That the present location was a very grave 
mistake we have long been convinced. And we 
are not sure that the blunder is beyond a rem- 
edy. But read Mr. Keavis on this point, and 
form your own opinions."— New York Tribune, 
Janucry 28, 1871. 

You will remember that previously we had 
all joined to break down this movement, and 
hearing of it Mr. Greeley threatened Con- 
gress with exposure if they listened to our 
plea. I read again from the Tribune: 

" The worst result, thus far, of the little talk 
.-.tout removing the capital from Washington 
to New York is that interested Washingtonians, 
owners of real property in the District, are rais- 
irg money to defeat the plan. This is alarm- 
ingly suggestive of so much lobbying, dining, 
wining, judicious corruption and ingenious 
Jjribery, teat we hope somebody will inake the 
business a matter of special observation, and let 
us know if any member cf Congress does any- 
thing unhandsome or suspicious. It has like- 
wise been suggested that if the capital should 
come to New York, the Washington monument 
must also be brought here; and this, we confess, 
is one of the strongest arguments we have 
heard against the measure."— New York Tri- 
bune, August 25, 1869. 

I leave Mr. Hine and his candidate without 
further exposure, and turn with pride to 

PRESIDENT GRANT'S RECORD AND VIEWS. 

When we came before Congress for the 
first time with a Delegate, President Grant 
stated our case in his annual message. The 
passage of the message which I shall now 
read, in contrast with what I have shown 
you from Mr. Greeley, should be written in 
letters of gold; it should be hungup in the 
bouse of every citizen who has any pride in 
our future. President Grant said: 

PRESIDENT GRANT'S MESSAGE. 

"Under the provisions of the act of Congress 
approved February 21, 1871, a territorial gov- 
ernment was organized in the District of Co- 
lumbia. Its results have thus far fully realized 
the expectations of its advocates. Under the 
direction of the Territorial officers a system of 
improvements has been inaugurated by means 
of which Washington is rapidly becoming a city 
worthy of the nation's capital. The citizens of 
the District having voluntarily taxed them- 
selves to a large amount for tfce purpose of con- 
tributing to the adornment of the seat of Gov- 
ernment, I recommend liberal appropriations on 
the part of Congress in order that the Govern- 
ment may bear its just share of the expense ol 
carrying out a iudicious system of improve- 
ments." 

2"or the first time in the history of the 



Government President ©rant brought our in- 
terests to the attention of Congress as the 
President of the nation. For the first time 
from any President be expressed the first 
view that the whole country should help tc 
make this the fit residence of the capital. 
I believe that the paragraph from the Presi- 
dent's message will outlive in the memory of. 
our people anything that has ever emanated 
from any of our Presidents. 

Can we without ingratitude and almost 
criminal neglect of our own interests cast 
a vote indirectly for Greeley against Grant? 
That this unasked opinion of the President, 
did good I have every evidence. Therenever 
was a better or more correct view enter- 
tained in Congress towards the District than 
was shown last winter. We bad a united 
national aud local government; the heads ol' 
departments with a large number of persons 
in them all helped us; a large cumber of 
members and Senators were induced to buy 
or rent houses instead of living in boarding 
houses. The temper of Congress was shown 
in a hundred ways. 

The District Committee recommended to 
Congress a view of its duty to the capita.' 
that I must reproduce as illustrative &t tkk 
growing sentiment: 

THE DUTY OP CONGRESS. 

"The original plan of the city, with its wide 
streets and avenues and tne numerous squares 
abutting upon them reserved to the United' 
States to be kept open forever for the public use, 
or to such uses" only as the United States shall 
appropriate them, demonstrate the propriety- 
and the original intention of the General Gov- 
ment bearing a proportion of the cost of im- 
proving and keeping them in repair. This plan 
was adopted because it was to be the capital ol 
the republic, and that it might be adequate to 
the growing necessities of the great people, who 
with prophetic vision the Father of the Country 
saw and seemed to comprehend would be rep- 
resented here. This single suggestion, together 
with the fact tbat tne United States has re- 
served to itself and still holds so large a pro- 
portion of the real estate of the District, shows 
beyond the necessity of argument the manifest 
injustice of devolving the whole expense of such 
improvements upon the citizens or upon those 
who may happen to own some of the lots of 
Washington." 

This report, my friends, came from gen- 
tlemen who, during the investigation, were 
personally attacked by the enemies of our 
government, and the particular passage which 
I have read was written by Mr. Eidridge, 
whose renomination the Democratic Jackson 
Association of this city tried to defeat with- 
out one word of rebuke from the Democratic 
daily organ of this city. Not only this, but 
it was signed by members who have since 
been rewarded by the enemies of improve- 
ments and progress here by secret and open 
efforts to prevent their returning to Con- 
gress. 

A more dastardly and wicked conspiracy 
never exised than the one that exists here 
now to break clown every man who will not 
join the cry of stop thief, and become a com- 
mon libeler of his neighbors. If Mr. Hine 
goes to Congress he will go as the avowe<» 
advocate of the men and the spirit in this 
community tbat would destroy every hope of 
our salvation. 

Talk about advocates cf Boards of Public 



II 



\v r orks, would not the Delegate pledged to 
give the board fair play be safer to the peo- 
ple than one pledged to destroy the board 
without trial? 

LABOR QUESTION. 

My friends, you are to be congratulated 
ipon the fact that all the candidates now oc- 
cupy substantially the same ground upon the 
labor question. My views are not new to you. 
I have expressed them before, aDd I repeat 
them. 

I say to you, frankly, that I do not believe 
a laboring man, who relie6 upon the proceeds 
of honest toil, can perform the duties of a 
citizen in a Republican Government and re- 
spond to the proper demands of his family by 
working ten hours a day and receiving there- 
for only the sum of $1.50. 

The strength of our Government lies in the 
intelligence, the stability and the character 
of our laboring people. "They must contribute 
to the support of our public schools ; they 
must contribute to the support of the church ; 
they must contribute to the support of the 
State; and 1 , above all, they must see that their 
families are reared under the best possible in- 
fluences, and sent out into the world as well 
prepared as possible to strengthen and give 
force to the Government and institutions under 
which they live. I assert that no man can be 
absent from his family ten hours in each day 
and 6pend still another hour in going to and 
returnine from his work, and have any time 
left in which to improve himself or to assist 
in the education of his family. 

So much upon the question of time. Need 
I add that these things cannot be done upon 
the pittance of $1,50 per day. If we take 
from the number of days in the year the Sun- 
lays, and those days in which the laborer is 
prevented from work by casualties, I think 
we will have an average annual income to 
the laboring man of not more than $300. It 
is idle for the rich man or the tradesman in 
prosperous business to say that this longing 
of the laboring man for a better condition is 
the result of demagogery on the part of the 
politicians. It is idle to say that the laboring 
man can, upon $300 per annum, act the part 
of an intelligent citizen, or the part of a 
father. He must, if this condition of things 
continues for many years, be reduced to the 
condition of a peon, if not a slave. He can- 
rot therefore advance as he should with the 
advancing civilization of the country. Here 
he i6 a voter. In his hand rests the power of 
making or unmaking Presidents and legisla- 
tors. He moulds public opinion. He deter- 
mines the policy of Government; in short, he 
is the Government; and I say that no wise 
man, certainly no statesman, can look upon 
our Government as possessing the elements 
of stability if this powerful man in our midst 
is to be kept in this condition of involuntary 
vlependence. 

Where and what the remedy is is not so 
easily pointed out. It may be in shortening 
the hours of labor, or it may be in increasing 
wages, or both. It may be that, under ail 
the circumstances, the change may be com- 
menced to-day, or next week, or next year; 
but in determining that time we are not to 
consult the interests of the wealthy, not the 
interests of corporations, not the interests of 
tradesmen and the well-to-do in the world. 



but we are to consult only this laboring man. 
and whenever it is his interest, all things 
considered, to advance his wages and to de- 
crease his hours of labor, that moment it 
should be done. I sympathize heartily, and 
always have, with this longing of the poor 
man to improve his condition in life, and my 
voice shall be raised to secure that result 
at all times and in an" places. 

BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS. 

Perhaps J might as well here as elsewhere 
in my remarks say a word with regard to the 
Board of Public Works. I suppose I do not 
misstate the fact when I say that there are 
persons who supported me at my first election 
who now hesitate to do so because I sustain 
the Board of Public Works. Some of these 
persons so so far as to charge me with being 
■ their tool, and their special advocate, right 
or wrong. It is due to these persons, as well 
as to myself, that I should state my position. 

When I spoke to the people last fall on the 
subject of the loan, I had this opposition to 
the Board of Public Works to combat as we 
now have it. Iu a speech made by me then, 
and which was afterwards printed, I stated as 
follows : 

"I believe, sir, that all good citizens should 
uphold the constituted authorities, whether 
elected or appointed, until they have given some 
good ground for distrust, either of their integrity 
or their ability. I am not an advocate of any 
man or set of men, nor do I sustain any 
relation to the Board of Public Works 
which would either require or induce me to 
state to the people of this District what I do not 
myself believe to be true. I could not serve you 
as I hope to, with a single eye to the welfare oi 
the whole people, if I were to declare it my pur- 
pose to stand by the Board of Public Works 
right or wrong, and I do not hesitate to say that 
whenever I shall see any sufficient evidence that 
these gentlemen are abusing their hinh trust, 
and are using their positions for personal ag- 
grandizement at the expense of your interest, 1 
shall not be the last one to make known that 
fact to you. 

"But, sir, as one having faith in this present 
administration— as one believing in its integrity 
of purpose, its public spirit, and its general de- 
termination to conserve the good of the whole 
people— I shall defend this board against all 
falsehood, and against all factious opposition, 
which may tend to impair their usefulness and 
to destroy their influence for good in this ccmmu- 
nity. This is no less my duty as your- public 
servant than it is yours as citizens." 

The board at that time was on trial, as cer- 
tain persons are endeavoring to-day to put 
it upon trial. The verdict of the people 
was then unmistaken. There were 1,212 
votes cast against them, and 14,760 to sustain. 
them. I cannot doubt, after that expression, 
that I had stated the truth to the people. 

The board commenced the improvement- 
after this verdict, and prosecuted thena under 
" great discouragements, until an early*wintcr 
closed their labors. The opposition did not 
cease; it transferred the theatre of action to 
Congress. The verdict of our own citizens was 
appealed from to the representatives of the 
nation. 

When the memorialists to Congress pre- 
sented their indictment against the board, 
I promised my assistance in developing the 
whole truth, and I challenge any one to take 
up the printed record of that trial and point 
to a single instance in which I sought to sup- 



12 



press the truth, to gloze it over, or to pre- 
vent the amplest inquiry. We sat upon that 
investigation during almost the entire ses- 
sion. A latitude was given to the inquiry. 
out of the abundance of liberality on the 
part of the committee, which is unparallelled 
in the annals of Congress. Indeed, so great 
was that latitude that much of the important 
business of the District was necessarily put 
aside to gratify the wishes of these memo- 
rialists, and it was done upon the theory that 
if their allegations were true Congress should 
dissolve this District government and refuse 
all legislation until a better one was estab- 
lished. I will not recount the weary hours 
of that investigation. Suffice it to say that 
seven out of the niue members of the com- 
mittee reported to Congress upon that 
branch of the case which more particularly 
concerns us at this time. 
I will read the report: 

"The investigation was pursued diligently 
extending over a period ot more thau ninety 
days. More than two hundred witnesses were 
examined, together with a lar«e amount of 
documentary evidence and records. Both the 
"memorialists and respondents were represented 
by counsel, and the hearing was public and open 
to all the people ot the District. A large pro- 
portion of the evidence offered by the memorial- 
ists was by them deemed applicable to the 
charges in the memorial. 

"There was, however, an attempt made to 
allow that the Board of Public Works had, in 
their official capacity, acted corruptly, and been 
influenced by motives of personal gain. This 
was, however, abandoned at the close of the inves- 
tigation, the counsel stating that no such claim is 
made by them. The committee, on this point, were 
unanimously of the opinion that the evidence 
showed there was not the least foundation for 
*uch a, charge." [Report of committee, page li.] 
"In passing upon the conduct of the gentle- 
men comprising the Board of Public Works, 
whose high character is already known to the 
people of the District, and in finding all charges 
of corruption, misconduct or serious mismanage- 
ment not proved, the committee do not wish to be 
understood as asserting that they have not made 
mistakes. The new government has but re- 
cently been organized. There was a universal 
demand lor extensive improvements during the 
ftrst season, which the board naturally deter- 
mined to attempt to comply with. But the in- 
junction sued out against their proceedings, 
together-with the early, cold and long winter, 
were unforeseen obstacles, which rendered it 
impossible iuliy to carry out the plans for 1S71. 

"On the other hand, however, it must be re- 
membered that the District has realized the 
benefit of a very favorable negotiation of its 
lour million loan, at a rate advantageous in It- 
self, and which has raised the credit of the Dis- 
trict to a high point, as shown by the negotia- 
tion of its water bonds at par. The Governor 
and members of the board are, on the whole, en- 
titled to the favorable judgment of Congress, and 
are to be commended for-the zeal, energy and wis- 
dom with which they have started the District upon 
a new career of improvements and prosperity ; 
and the District itself is entitled to fair and 
generous appropriations from Congress, in some 
manner corresponding to the valuation of the 
property owned by the United States. 

" H. K. Starkweather, 

Chairman. 
" W. Williams, 
"Luke P. Poland, 
" C B. Darrall, 
"A. C. Harmer, 
" Aylett R. Cotton, 
"C. A. Eldridge." 

{Heport.p. 13.] 



On the question of corruption how else 
could they report after the statement made 
by the counsel of the memorialists (Mr. 
Coombs) thatnofraud or corruptionor pecula- 
tion was even alleged, much less proved. How 
else could they report after such men as Dr. 
John B. Blake, George W. Riggs, William H. 
Phillip, testified that they did not question the 
integrity of the Board of Public Works. Dr. 
Blake said he "would as soon question his 
own integrity, "and Mr. Phillip testified that 
he "had no suspicion that the board had 
acted corruptly." 

The report was finally made to Congress. 
While it was pending some of the memorial- 
ists still continued their warfare. Mr. Coombs' 
argument was laid upon the desk of all the 
members. Anonymous circulars were gotten 
out — I have always suspected by some of these 
memorialists, though I acquit the respectable 
men of that number from participating in it 
—reiterating charges of fraud and corrup- 
tion, attacking personally the members 
of the committee, and the "individual mem- 
bers of the Board of Public Works and mem- 
bers of our Legislature. 

The report as a whole was not considered 
by Congress, but some of the vital questions 
in the investigation came up in a practical 
manner. The kin<1 of pavements being laid 
by the board and t^u manner of laying them, 
and the policy of filling the canal and sub- 
stituting a covered sewer in its place, were 
among the principal matters presented to the 
committee, and a large amount of testimony 
was taken pro and con upon these subjects, 
the memorialists attacking the board partic- 
ularly iji this direction. 

Towards the close of the session the board 
presented a bill against the Government for 
nearly $200,000 to reimburse the District for 
mouey expended in laying pavements in 
front of public buildings and grounds. They 
also presented an estimate of over $68,000 to 
cover the cost of filling the canal and laylrig 
sewers through the public grounds. This 
presented the question practically. If, as has 
been alleged, the pavements were worthless, 
extravagantly laid and unauthorized, it was 
clearly the duty of the General Government 
to reject both items. 

If, as was alleged, the filling of the canal 
would breed pestilence and cause inundation, 
it was clearly the duty of Congress to reject 
that item and prohibit the Board of Public 
Works from carrying out their policy of fill- 
ing the canal; but in the face of this investi- 
gation; in the face of these anonymous at- 
tacks upon the personal character of tho 
board, as well as upon the improvements 
themselves, the House of Representatives, 
made the appropriation without a single dis- 
senting voice", the two members of the Dis- 
trict Committee who made a minority report; 
either dodging the vote or voting for it. 

Let me stop here to ask these gentlemeu 
who denounce me as the willing tool of the 
Board of Public Works to say in all candor 
whether it was my duty to rise in my place 
and oppose this appropriation. Whatever 
their answer may be, I know that the people of 
the District will sustain my course. One word 
more. When that report was made I offered 
no defence of the Board of Public Works, 
but when Mr. Roosevelt, one of the minority, 



13 



got leave to print a speech, on what he 
styles "frauds in the District of Colum- 
bia," I felt it to be my duty to obtain 
the same permission in order to present 
the facts if his speech should require it. His 
speech was not printed in time to permit me 
to answer him in open session, but I did an- 
swer him in a printed speech which is before 
the people. I am willing to-day to abide by 
the judgment of the people after they have 
read these two speeches. 

The adjournment of Congress, then, found 
the Board of Public Works in this position. 
They had been sustained by the people. They 
had been sustained by Congress. They com- 
menced their summer's work without embar- 
rassment, therefore, so far as the intelligent 
sentiment of the community was concerned. 
The only remaining question is, have they 
forfeited since that time the confidence which 
you once gave them ? Have they done since 
the adjournment of Congress anything which 
would change the verdict if the facts were 
known. 

Let us look the facts candidly in the face. 
I know they have made some mistakes; they 
have told me so, and will tell you so. I have 
observed this, however: that after they have 
made a mistake, in a grade for example, and 
it has been pointed put to them, they have 
the courage to correct it instead of per- 
petuating it throughout the length of the 
street. I have sometimes thought that 
they were endeavoring to accomplish too 
much in a short time; that it would have been 
better to have continued these improvements 
through two years instead of making them 
in one, and it is probably in this desire to give 
the people the benefit of the improvements 
without delay, some of these mistakes "have 
occurred; yet upon this question there is 
much to be said on both sides. I am not fa- 
miliar with the details of improvements more 
than many of you. If you will take the 
trouble to visit me at my rooms you will per- 
ceive that I cannot possibly undertake to 
supervise the work of the board, even if I 
had the right or ability to do it, which I 
have not. Tnere is scarcely a day passes in 
which I do not see from twenty to thirty peo- 
ple, who come to me for advice upon various 
matters connected with the District, to pro- 
cure employment for them, or to keep them 
in employment, or to talk about necessary 
legislation for the District, so that my time 
is almost entirely occupied in this way. 

While Congress was in session I remember 
no instance in which the Board of Public 
Works consulted me or suggested to me any 
legislation which was not for the best inter- 
ests of the people. We were much in com- 
munication with regard to future plans for 
obtaining appropriations. It was with their 
approval, and I believe at their suggestion in 
part, that I introduced the bill limiting bur 
debt, declaring void one of the $4,000,000 
loan bills. They co-operated with me cor- 
dially in passing appropriations* which you 
all admit were of great benefit. 

Since Congress adjourned there has been 
no occasion when one could be the tool of the 
other. 

In looking around me now, whatever else 
may be said in criticism of these gentlemen, 
I can see the evidences of great vigor in this 



board, of intelligence and of a sincere desire 
to make the District of Columbia one of the 
most desirable spots for a residence in the 
United States. I see prosperity on every 
hand. I sec property advancing rapidly in 
value; often the men who are most Litter i>. 
their opposition are deriving the greatesr 
benefit from these improvements. 1 know 
enough of the personal character and views 
of these gentlemen to satify me that they 
entertain an honest and patriotic purpose to 
accomplish the best possible results for all 
our people, and I have not seen anything 
which would lead me to withhold my confi- 
dence either in their integrity or capacity, 
and until some such evidence is presented, I 
hoid it to be ray duty, as the representative 
of the best interests of all the people, to 
strengthen their hands and give them such 
moral support, for I can give them no other 
as it is the duty of all citizens to do. 

It will be noticed that in all the charges 
made no one has dared to put his finger upon 
a single instance, as evidence of corruption. 

There is a great deal of vague talk about a 
"ring," and odium is attempted to be fixed 
upon certain persons as belonging to the ring. 

Why should you fear, unless there is a com- 
bination of corrupt and bad men toinjureyou. 
I hate these insinuations ; I despise the men 
who would seek to destroy the personal char- 
acter of their neighbors by insinuations 
which they have not the courage to put in the 
form of direct charges. Everything now-a- 
days crystallizes itself into the shape of a ring. 
Let no one be deceived by such methods of 
attack. 

The only ring I know anything about con- 
nected with our improvements, is a ring of 
progressive, intelligent, wide-awake people, 
who are determined that this city shall be- 
come great as a residence of the Capitol, 
great in commerce and manufactures. This 
ring is composed of rich and poor, black and 
white, of all nationalities, and thus far in this 
struggle has given evidences of sufScient 
power to overcome all reactionary influences 
to keep down the men who would remit us to 
the old condition of things, and who are de- 
termined that we shall have a good govern- 
ment and prosperous people. They are lusty 
and strong, and I believe at our next election 
will rebuke the destructive and reactionary 
spirit in our communitj', and put their final 
seal of approval- upon the new departure 
which Washington has taken. 

I am, my fellow-citizens, one cf the per- 
sons who believe in this class of citizens, 
and I shall always be found working with 
them. I know of no other combination and 
would belong to no other. 

GENERAL EFFECT OF THE NEW SPIRIT. 

My friends, I do not think I can over-esti- 
mate the value of the movement being made 
now to attract capital to our city. 1 do not 
believe that I can over estimate the advan- 
tages these improvements will be to us in 
presenting our claims to Congress for aid. 
It is only within the period of our present 
Government that our people have been sim- 
ulated to consider how great are their advan- 
tages. We have now at the capital a valua- 
ble system of railroads. We are penetrating 
the rich coal and iron fields, and tbe agr: 



14 



cultural valleys of Pennsylvania, Maryland, 
Virginia and West Virginia. Everything 
points to cheap living, cheap freights and 
enlarged resources. 

The Potomac and Piedmont railroad, to 
which you last year extended assistance, will, 
when completed, put you in connection with 
the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, and by 
that means make the city of Washington a 
point on the shortest line of travel from Cin- 
cinnati and St. Louis and the South to New 
York by uot less than one hundred and forty 
miles. Through Washington must pass most 
of the cotton and iron and other products of 
the South and Soathwest which find a market 
in the North and are there manufactured. 
We must stop the transit of this raw mate- 
rial, and manufacture it on the Potomac at 
Georgetown. 

I And from an able report of the Joint 
Committee on Manufactures of our Legisla- 
tive Assembly that thi3 w*Uer power of ours 
is equivalent to over twelve thousand horse 
power, or more than the water power at 
Lowell and Fall River combined. No water 
power could be cheaper than ours, and no 
place can be found for a residence more pic- 
turesque and healthful than along the Poto- 
mac. There need never be a day in this cli- 
mate when the manufacturing establishments 
must stop. An increase of manufactures 
must increase our commerce. The Potomac, 
one of the grandest rivers for navigation in 
this country, bordered by ricfc farms, must 
make the improvement of our harbor a ne- 
cessity. We can build a sea wall from below 
Georgetown to the Eastern branch, which 
will cost no more than tbe land will brinir re- 
claimed by it, and thus have along our whole 
river front one of the finest inland harbors 
in the world. 

Nothing, in my opinion, mv friends, can 
stop the ultimate growth of Washington into 
a great commercial and manufacturing city, 
unless it shall be this insane warfare 
among ourselves as to the best means of 
bringing it about. This view of Washing- 
ton is enough to arouse the public spirit and 
pride of our people. There is still another 
scarcely less in importance, and that is, to 
make the capital the residence of the wealthy; 
make it the home of art in this country; 
build up in it a national university which 
shall embrace all science and art, which will 
hud at its hand the finest advantages to be 
obtained in any city in the world; through 
our courts of law, our Patent Office, our 
Smithsonian Institution, our Agricultural 
Department, our Medical Museums, our Con- 
gress, our Departments of Government, all 
combining to illustrate the history, progress 
and theory of the greatest Government on 
earth. 

We have the finest and cheapest water in 
the country. Statistics show that the death 
rate of Washington is less than either Phila- 



delphia, New York, Boston, St. Louis, Cin- 
cinnati or Chicago; that our climate is the 
most salubrious and delightful of any of the 
great cities of the Union, and that generally 
no city presents, all things considered, oaa 
half the inducements for a permanent home 
as ours. 

I feel a glow of pride whenever I consider 
these great advantages, and I deplore, deeply 
deplore, a sentiment in the community which, 
however honestly entertained, seems to me 
to keep us back from reaping the great ad- 
vantages which nature has thrown in our lap. 

CONCLUSION. 

§]Mr. President and gentlemen, I have gone 
over at considerable length the case which 
you came here to have presented to you; it ia 
che case ot all those who desire the continue'-! 
improvement of our city. Whether you de- 
sire me to still represent you in Congress is a 
matter I must leave wholly to your judgment. 
I know that our people, stimulated by the 
hope of the liberal appropriations made by 
Congress last winter, will expect much, very 
much, of your next Delegate. I sometimes 
stand appalled at the responsibility which my 
friends are endeavoring to place upon me; 
yet I feel confident that if you continue to 
support me in the future as you have done in 
the past, you will uot be disappointed. I feel 
strong iu the justice of our cause; the goccf 
sense of the people will not much longer per- 
mit Congress to be governed by the idea that 
the vast wealth of the nation here in its 
public buildings and grounds shall contribute 
nothing by tax or otherwise to the adornment 
of the people's capital. 

Bat one thing can prevent this consumma- 
tion; that is au interminable warfare amoua 
our own people, which shall be transferred 
at each succeeding session of Congress to tie 
national halls of legislation. If our organic- 
act needs amendment, and I think it does, it 
cannnot be accomplished by arousing bitter 
antagonisms among our own people and the:; 
friends in Congress. 

The memorialists last winter made a sort 
of highwaymen's plea to surreuder to their 
dictation, or our government should be de- 
stroyed. Congress will never respond to that 
method of demand, no matter if you have a 
dozen delegates from that faction in Con- 
gress. I declare to you that not a single per- 
son connected with those memorialists dur- 
ing the whole of last winter ever asked me in 
a single instance to consider whether any 
relief was needed. There never has been a 
time, and I trust there never will be while I 
am your Delegate, when I shall not gladly 
receive suggestions from whatever quarter, 
looking to the welfare of the whole District. 
My only desire is to reflect the public senti- 
ment of my own constituency, and God help- 
ing me I shall always endeavor faithfully to 
discharge this duty. 



Appropriations to reimburse the District of Columbia for Expenditures made in 

Improvements upon and adjoining the Property of the United 

States in the District of Columbia. 



SPEECH 



OF DISTRICT COLUMBIA, 



DELIVERED 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



DECEMBER 14, 1872. 



WASHINGTON: 

P. & J. RIVES & GEO. A. BAILEY, 

REPORTERS AND PRINTERS OF THE DEBATES OF CONGRESS. 

1872. 



Improvements in the District of Columbia, 



The House having met for debate as in Committee 
of the Whole on the state of the Union — 

Mr. CHIPMAN said : 

Mr. Speaker : There is now pending before 
the House a bill of great importance to the 
people I represent, making an appropriation 
of $1,241,920 92 "to pay the expenditures 
made by the Board of Public Works of the 
district of Columbia for paving roadways, 
curbing and paving sidewalks, grading, sewer- 
age, aud other improvements upon and adjoin- 
ing the property of the United States in the 
District of Columbia " I avail myself of the 
courtesy of the House to-day in order that 
I may state at more length the facts which I 
regard as important to be considered in con 
nection with this bill than I would be able to 
present them under the rule which usually 
prevails in Committee of the Whole. 

It is not my purpose at this time to present, 
anything like a complete history of the District 
government since its formation upon the pres- 
ent plan. So far as the purposes of this bill 
are concerned, the important facts have been 
presented in an elaborate and exhaustive re- 
port of the Board of Public Works, made to 
the President, and which I understand has 
been placed, or will be placed, in the hands 
of members of the House. This report pre- 
sents a complete showing of the operations of 
the board from its organization until Novem- 
ber 1, 1872, and literally turns the records of 
that board inside out to the gaze of the world. 
I commend it to the perusal of members as 
presenting more elaborately and more ably the 
claims which the national capital has upon 
Congress for aid in carrying on the work of 
improvement here than I shall be able to do. 
My purpose is rather to analyze and present 
in a compact form the facts presented by this 
report, together with some others which are of 
record, and which may be important in the 
consideration of this bill. 

The temptation is very strong to enlarge 
somewhat upon the relations which should be 
sustained between the Government and its 
national capital. The history of the country 



will show that in late years there has been a 
great departure from the original theory upon 
which the capital was established. As late as 
1835 a report was made by Senator Southard 
in the Senate of the United States presenting 
with great ability the true relations which 
should exist between the capital and the Gov- 
ernment. I am constrained to call the House 
back to the views then entertained by quoting 
a brief paragraph from that report. Senator 
Southard says : 

" It could not have entered into the contemplation 
of any one at the date of the contract" — 

That is the deed of conveyance by the pro- 
prietors of the land to the Government — 

" nor can it now be regarded as either reasonable or 
just that the city should bear the expense of streets, 
the property and control of which was so absolutely 
in the Government, and more than one half of the 
land adjacent to which belonged to it, and must be 
increased in value by their improvement. The com- 
mittee are of opinion that the Government was bound 
by every principle of equal rights and justice to pay 
a portion of the expense incurred upon this subject 
equal to the amount of the property which it held, and 
which was to be increased in value and benefited by 
it, and this would have been greatly more than one 
half if the streets are its property and to be regarded 
as altogether under its control. It is not easy to 
perceive why it should call upon or permit others to 
keep that property in order; and if the streets are 
to be regarded as for the joint convenience of the 
Government and the inhabitants, the expense of 
maintaining them should be joint and in proportion 
to their respective interests." 

No one can deny that this is but a just and 
fair view of this question. Similar views have 
been spasmodically entertained and expressed 
by members of Congress and committees since 
that time ; but the latest expression upon this 
subject by a committee of Congress I beg to 
call to the attention of the House. It will be 
found in report No. 72, made by the Commit- 
tee for the District of Columbia at the last ses- 
sion of this Congress, and is as follows : 

"The original plan of the city, with its wide 
streets and avenues, and the numerous squares 
abutting upon them, reserved to the United States 
to be kept open forever for the public use, or to such 
uses only as the United States shall appropriate 
them, demonstrate the propriety and the original 
intention of the General Government bearing a pro- 
portion of the cost of improving and keeping them 
in repair. This plan was adopted because it was to 



be the capital of the Republic, and that it might be 
adequate to the growing interests of the great peo- 
ple who, with prophetic vision, the Father of his 
Country saw, and seemed to comprehend, would be 
established here. This single suggestion, together 
with the fact that the United States has reserved to 
itself, and still holds, so large a portion of the real 
estate of the District, shows beyond the necessity of 
argument the manifest injustice of devolving the 
whole expense of such improvements upon the citi- 
zens, or upon those who may happen to own some 
of the lots of Washington." 

It will be observed, Mr. Speaker, that these 
broad and statesmanlike views go further than 
is proposed by this bill. They contemplate 
the paymentby the Governmentof a proportion 
of the cost of the improvements at the capital 
which the value of the property held by the 
Government bears to the value of the property 
held by the citizens. This bill proposes, how- 
ever, simply that the Government shall pay 
its proportion of the cost of the improvements 
made immediately adjoining its own property, 
leaving the cost for improvements elsewhere 
throughout the capital to fall wholly upon the 
citizens. But I will not be drawn into a dis- 
cussion of the general question. Let me leave 
it for others, and come at once to a brief state- 
ment of such facts as I think the House would 
gladly possess. 

DEBT OP THE DISTRICT AND LIABILITIES OP THE 
BOARD. 

I infer, Mr. Speaker, from the action of the 
House a few days since in referring a resolu- 
tion to the Committee for the District of 
Columbia making certain inquiries, that some 
information in response to that resolution 
would be desirable in this connection. It 
directed, first, a report to be made upon the 
present debt of the District ; second, the liabil- 
ities incurred by the Board of Public Works 
thereof; and third, the sum required to finish 
the work undertaken by the board. Let me 
answer these questions in their order : 

First. The House will remember that the 
Committee for the District at the last session 
of Congress spent the greater part of the ses- 
sion in an investigation into the affairs of the 
District. The question of the District debt was 
made an important subject of inquiry. There- 
port of the committee, to which I have already 
alluded, presented the indebtedness then exist- 
ing. That report included the unissued bonds 
authorized by the Legislative Assembly of 
the District, and also the debt of the old cor- 
porations, making a total of $9,231,9#7 37. 
This total has been somewhat changed since 
that time, and in order to ascertain the amount, 
the committee obtained information from the 
comptroller of the District, which is found in 
papers now on file before the committee, and 
from which I suppose I may properly quote. 
The comptroller reports the present debt 
at $8,476,122 65 ; he excludes from his state- 
ment market-house bonds not issued, $172,- 
000, and outstanding claims on account of con- 
tracts entered into by the old corporation, 
which the Legislative Assembly by act of 
June 20, 1872, directed to be settled by the 



commissioners of the sinking fund of the Dis- 
trict, amounting to $550,000. Adding this to 
the debt stated by the comptroller, we have 
the present debt of the District $9,198,122 65, 
which shows a diminution of the debt since 
last winter of $33,174 72. 

Second. As to the amount of liabilities in- 
curred by the Board of Public Works, I will 
first call attention to the printed report of the 
board, pages 1 to 8 inclusive, of the appendix. 
It will there appear that the receipts of the 
board from all sources amount to $5,052,200 89. 
From the same report, pages 9 to 65 inclusive, 
of the appendix, I find the expenditure 
$5,052,260 89. These pages give in detail 
the sources of the receipts and the persons to 
whom and the purposes for which expend- 
itures were made. In the same report, pages 1 
to 36, appended to the appendix, the House 
will find a list of the contracts entered into up 
to the time of the report, made and extended 
under the direction of the chief engineer, from 
October 1, 1871, to October 31, 1872, showing 
the cost of the work contracted for to be 
$6,387,933 15. These cover the liabilities of 
the board to that date. In addition to these 
are certain other liabilities not under contract, 
found on page 18 of the printed report. They 
amount to $698,279 72, making the total 
$7,086,212 87. Deducting the disbursements 
of the board, as I have already shown, to wit, 
$5,052,260 89, we have the total liabilities 
upon contracts outstanding and completed 

.$2,033,951 98. Since October 31, 1872, 
certain other liabilities have been incurred, 
which have been stated to the Committee for 
the District of Columbia, in response to the 
House resolution, amounting to $367,024 45, 
making total liabilities of the board to Decem- 
ber 6, 1872, $2,400,976 43. I here call atten- 
tion to page 18 of the report, giving a state- 
ment of assets and liabilities, from which it will 
appear that the total resources of the board 
are $7,248,465 12, while their liabilities are 
$7,086,212 87, giving balance in favor of 
board, $162,252 25. But if we consider, as we 
must, the subsequent liabilities incurred, to 
which I have already called attention, to wit, 
$367,024 45, it will leave a balance against the 
board of $88,427 57. 

If the amount asked for in the bill before 
the House be considered as an asset, it will 
leave the resources of the board $1,037,148 72, 
which will be ample to complete the work 
undertaken by the board. This answers the 
third inquiry of the resolution which I am 
now considering as to the sum necessary to 
complete the improvements. Right here, 
Mr. Speaker, I have to answer the criticisms 
made by the gentleman from New York [Mr. 
Roosevelt] some days since when offering his 
resolution of inquiry in relation to two items 
in the assets shown on page 18 of the report. 
The gentleman stated to the House that the 
hoard in claiming $4,000,000 as an asset from 
the loan authorized by the Legislature, mis- 

• stated the amount in the sum of $2-10,000, 



which was the amount of discount on the bonds 
in negotiating their sale. 

The board treats the whole amount as an 
asset, because the Legislature appropriated 
$4,000,000 and authorized the negotiation of 
bonds to raise that amount. As the bonds did 
not bring their par value, the remaining $240,- 

000 are yet to be collected by taxation, and 
the board very properly treat it as an asset. 
The gentleman also criticised the item of assets 
stated as "assessments on account of contingent 
expenses" ($100,000) as unauthorized. The 
answer is that the board, acting under author- 
ity of law, in computing the cost of any given 
improvement charged to the general fund of 
the District their proportion of contingent 
expenses, such as expenses of engineers and 
superintendents of the work ; and they also 
charge against, the property its proportion of 
these expenses, to wit, one third, and that 
makes the sum stated in this list of assets. 
Their right to do this has recently been made 
the subject of judicial inquiry, and the high- 
est court of the District has, I understand, 
decided it to be legal. 

This, Mr. Speaker, I believe to be an accu- 
rate statement of the present condition of the 
District finances, as well as the present con- 
dition of the finances of the Board of Public 
Works. 

RELATIONS OF THE BOARD TO THE DISTRICT. 

Let me here remind members of the pre- 
cise relation which this Board of Public 
Works sustains to the District government, as 

1 think there is some confusion upon this 
point. By the organic act organizing the 
District government, the Board of Public 
Works is composed of officers nominated by 
the President and confirmed by the Senate. 
They are paid by the United States, and the 
act requires of them the discbarge of such 
duties as the United States, as well as the Legis- 
lative Assembly of the District, shall impose 
upon them. They are not officers of the Dis- 
trict government, but are clearly officers of 
the United States. They report to the Presi- 
dent and are under the absolute control of 
Congress. Their accounts have no connection 
with the District government and are not to be 
considered as the accounts of officers of the Dis 
trict government. The debt of the District and 
the liabilities of the board are as distinct as the 
debt of the District and the liabilities of the 
engineer of public buildings and grounds. 
Congress by the organic act imposed upon 
this board, among other things, the duty of 
improving the streets, avenues, and alleys in 
the District. The District government, with 
great liberality, placed ii\ their hands a large 
amount of money with which to carry out 
the purposes of the act. In doing this the 
board necessarily encountered streets, avenues, 
and alleys in front of and around public build- 
ings, reservations, and property of the United 
States. It was impossible to complete these 
improvements in any one instance without in- 



volving an expenditure of money in front of 
Government property. They took the respons- 
ibility to complete these improvements with- 
out leaving gaps wherever Government prop- 
erty might intervene. In doing this they 
incurred liabilities, a large amount of which 
they have already discharged, and in doing so 
were obliged to make an advance from the 
funds of the District to pay for the improve- 
ments in front of Government property, and 
the object of this bill is to refund to them the 
amount thus advanced. I will not say the 
Government is legally liable for this amount, 
but I do say that it is morally liable, and many 
precedents will warrant the appropriation. 

ECONOMY AND DURABILITY OP WORK PERFORMED. 

It is proper that the House should know 
whether the work for which they are asked 
to pay has been economically and efficiently 
made. This subject was very fully entered into 
by the Committee for the District of Columbia 
at the last session. The committee reported 
that they were unable to find that the board 
could have procured the work at a less price 
than was paid. I believe that the work of 
various descriptions which has been done was 
done from fifteen to thirty per cent, cheaper 
than like work in any city in the country, con- 
sidering the price of materials in this market. 
Take the item of pavements and compare with 
the known prices in any other city of the Union, 
and what I say will prove true not only as to 
pavements but other work. The contractor 
has been required to give security that he will 
keep the pavement in repair at his own ex- 
pense for three years from the date of its 
completion, a condition which, I believe, has 
never been imposed in any other city. There 
has been the closest supervision and super- 
intendence of the work by competent men 
from first to last; and while doubtless here 
and there may be found defective work, in 
the main I believe that it has been well done. 
Besides, the bill now before the House requires 
that the payment shall be made upon the 
vouchers approved by the officer in charge 
of public buildings and grounds, after full 
examination and measurement of the improve- 
ments. 

IMPROVEMENT OF STREETS PAID FOR BY THE GENERAL 
GOVERNMENT COMPARED WITH THE COST TO TtfE 
. CITY FOR THE SAME. 

Examination of the public records of the 
country will show that since 1802 the General 
Government has expended for the improve- 
mentof ourstreets and avenues $1,321,288 31. 
During the same period the city of Washington 
has expended $13,921,767 15, or the citizens 
have paid ninety per cent, and the Government 
ten per cent., and I leave out of this com- 
putation nearly $2,000,000 which have been 
expended by Georgetown and the county of 
Washington ; and yet, Mr. Speaker, the United 
States, as we shall see before I finish, owns 
and has owned not less than two fifths of the 
city of Washington. 



6 



_ Perhaps I may as well here as elsewhere 
give in tabular form the value of real estate 
held by the United States in Washington city : 

1. Value of the ground of Government reserva- 
tions estimated by a commission in 1870, under 

organic act $16,186,334 99 

Cost of the public buildings erected on 

the above grounds, obtained from the 
appropriations made for the purpose 
to date 30,548,426 12 

Total $46,734,761 11 

2. The present value of the ground of the above 
reservations is estimated at $25,000,000 00 

3. The amount paid by the Government for the 
above reservations was $36,099 00 

4. The Government was donated every alternate 
lot, or altogether 10.136 lots, having an area of 
65,688,480 square feet. Estimating the present aver- 
age value of the same at fifty cents per square foot, 

.would give as total value of the lots $32,844,240 00 

COST OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

Appropriations made by Congress from A. D. 1800 to 
15th of July, 1870, for the erection and maintenance 
of public buildings. 

Capitol $12,256,150 69 

President's House 1,209,332 98 

United States jail 86,585 01 

United States penitentiary 77,777 97 

Insane asylum 638,002 00 

Navy-yard 2,923,899 66 

Armory 27,701 96 

Post Office 1,715,430 93 

Patent Office 2.753,813 69 

Treasury 6,271,474 62 

Government magazine 224,712 35 

Winder's building 203,450 00 

Columbia Institute 347,967 87 

Agricultural Department 155,525 00 

Government Printing Office 59,915 74 

Arsenal 80,719 33 

Old appropriation for public buildings... 1,515,966 32 

Total $30,548,426 12 



It has been urged that the Government does 
not own this property in fee. An examin- 
ation of the original deed of June 29, 1871, 
and the case of Van Ness et ux. vs. City of 
Washington and the United States, (4 Peters, 
page 232,) together with the opinions of the 
Attorneys General Wirt and Gushing, will 
show the contrary. These improvements are 
adding daily to the substantial wealth of the 
United States, and upon every principle its 
property should pay its just proportion. 

It will be difficult, Mr. Speaker, for persons 
unacquainted with the progress and improve- 
ments here for the past year to comprehend 
their extent. Wherever we go throughout the 
city are found the finest pavements leading in 
every direction ; the privilege of sewers and 
water-mains has been given to the citizens in 
almost every part of the city, until we are no 
longer a reproach and disgrace to visitors ; but 
the capital of the nation is fast becoming the 
glory of the nation. To give the House some 
idea of these improvements, I read extracts 
giving a computed statement of extent and 



cost of certain improvements made as appear 
from the report of the Board of Public Works, 
November, 1871 : 

Carriage-ways — number yards. 
651,765 yards of wood pavement, $3 50.. $2,281,177 50 
94,805 yards of round block pavement, 

at $1 75 165,906 75 

16,333 yards of compound pavement, 

at $3 50 57,105 50 

306,761 yards of concrete pavement, at 

$3 20 981,635 20 

75,281 yards of Belgian pavement, at 

$3 10 233,371 10 

147,776 yards of McAdam pavement, at 

$1 50 221,664 00 

126,905 yards of cobble pavement, at 

55 cents 69,797 75 

473,313 yards of graveled streets, at 15 

cents 70,996 95 

1,892,939 $4,081,716 75 



Carriage-ways — number miles. 
miles of wood pavement, at $65,706 55, per 

mile $2,281,177 50 

miles of round block pavement, at 

$32,833 27 per mile 165,908 75 

miles of compound pavement, at 

$65,706 55 per mile 57,165 50 

miles of concrete pavement, at 

$60,074 56 per mile 981,635 20 

miles of Belgian pavement, at 

$58,197 23 per mile 233,371 10 

miles of McAdam pavement, at 

$28,159 95 per mile 221,664 00 

miles of cobble pavement, at 

$10,325 52 per mile 69,797 75 

miles of graveled streets in city, at 

$2,815 99 per mile 5,631 98 

miles of graveled streets in county, 65,364 97 



117.18 $4,081,716 72 

Sewers. 

2.473 1. feet of Tiber sewer, at $102 50 $253,482 50 

5,200 1. feet of interceptingsewer, at$16 60, 

(average) 86,320 00 

2.200 1. feet of Slash run, at $17 18 37,796 00 

27,087 1. feet of Sewers, from four to nine- 
inches of diameter, at $6...., 162,522 00 

36.960 $540,120 50 

ASSESSMENT. 

I have been asked by members many times 
recently whether this vast work is not impos- 
ing a burdensome taxation upon the people. 
Admitting that it does, the obligation would 
seem to be the stronger on the Govern- 
ment to do justice to our citizens by reliev- 
ing them of part of this burden. While it is 
true that in some instances the assessments 
are burdensome, and subject property-owners 
to great pecuniary inconvenience, still the 
enhancement of property has been so great and 
the immediate benefits so manifest, that gen- 
erally our people have borne the assessments 
with cheerfulness. In this connection I want 
to submit a comparative statement of assess- 
ments made per front foot of property improved 



by the late corporation and by the Board of 
Public Works : 

Corporation assessment for a street one hundred and 
ten feet wide, the carriage-way paved with rough 
bluestone pavement. 
70 square feet of carriage-way of rough blue rock, at 

$1 36 per square yard $10 50 

40 square feet of brick pavement, at 90 cents 

per square yard 4 00 

2 lineal feet of curbing, (undressed,) at8f cents 

per foot 1 J4 

21ineal feet of sewers, at $2 25 per foot 4 50 

Grading 1 63 

Total $22 37 

Of which $11 18i was assessed to property per front 
foot. 

Board assessment for the same street, with the carriage- 
way paved with first-class wood pavement. 

40 square feet of carriage-way of first-class wood 

pavement, at $3 50 per yard $15 55 

30 square feet of brick pavement, at 90 cents 

per square yard 3 03 

2 lineal feet of curbing, (dressed,) at SI 25 per 

foot 2 50 

2 lineal feet of sewers, at $1 40 per foot 2 80 

40 square feet of parking 2 22 

Total $26 10 

Of which $4 35 was assessed to property per front 
foot. 

The House will perceive that for a trifle 
more the Board of Public Works have made 
a first-class wooden pavement upon the same 
streets which under the old corporation was 
laid with rough blue rock, and that while that 
rough block pavement cost the property-holder 
$11 18J per front foot, an improved wooden 
pavement cost the property-holder $4 85 per 
front foot. 

Take another instance, when Congress or- 
dered the city to pave Pennsylvania avenue, 
from the Capitol to the Treasury Department, 
it imposed on the property-holders under the 
old corporation an expense of about twenty 
dollars per front foot. The Board of Public 
Works have paved Pennsylvania avenue, from 
Seventeenth street to Georgetown, with wooden 
prepared pavement at a cost to the property- 
holder of $4 80 per front foot. 

Under the old corporation, I street, between 
Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets, paved 
with rubble stone, cost $4 75 per front foot; 
I street, between Sixth and Seventh streets, 
paved with blue rock, cost $4 82 per front 
foot; Indiana avenue, between Third and 
Fourth streets, paved with blue rock, cost 
$9 74 per front foot. Compare this with the 
pavements laid under the Board of Public 
Works on streets of like width. Twelfth street, 
between Pennsylvania avenue and F street, 
paved with wood, cort $4 50 per front foot; 
New York avenue, as wide as Indiana avenue, 
paved with asphalt and parked in the center, 
cost about ten dollars per front foot. I give 
these few instances at random, to show the 
difference between the present rates of assess- 
ments and those which obtained under the old 
corporation, and it will be seen that they show 
a gain of one third in favor of the present ad- 



ministration, when we consider the character 
of the improvements. 

It would seem, Mr. Speaker, that our citi- 
zens have no just ground for complaint upon 
the matter of cost of improvements. Still 
I can see how this large amount of work, 
reaching, as it does, the property of the poor 
people of the District, may threaten them 
with forced sale; but under the law they have 
one year to pay the assessment at ten percent, 
interest, and they have two years after that in 
which to redeem at fifteen per cent. 



I have been asked also by members whether 
these improvements are not enormously adding 
to our tax, as they cannot conceive how such 
stupendous work can go on without that result. 
I answer that our general taxes to-day are ten 
cents less than during one of the years of the 
late corporation of Washington. We now pay 
one dollar and seventy cents upon the one hun- 
dred dollars. With it we are paying the sink- 
ing fund upon the four million loan with which 
to gradually discharge the principal. We 
are paying the interest upon that loan ; we 
are paying interest upon the old debt of the 
old corporation, together with the sinking fund 
necessary to discharge a large portion of the 
principal ; we are paying the interest and sink- 
ing fund of our water and market bonds ; in 
short, we are carrying on the whole machinery 
of the government, paying its debt gradually 
and making all of these improvements, without 
increasing the taxes one penny. It is true 
that property of the District by a late valua- 
tion has been increased about ten millions ; 
yet at the same time we have taken off taxe? 
from personal property which is valued a 
eleven millions. I assert, Mr. Speaker, that 
such a result in municipal government cannot 
be pointed out in any other city of this Union. 

While I was making my last canvass before 
the people of the District I was met with a state- 
ment that the improvements being made by 
the board could not be completed at a cost 
less than $20,000,000, and some orators esti- 
mated it at $60,000,000. Without knowing 
anything certainly about it myself, as I have 
had no connection whatever with the Board 
of Public Works in carrying out its scheme 
of improvements, I felt that I could with great 
confidence assure the people that all these 
estimates were wild and visionary. I did not 
then have the information from which to make 
positive assertions, as I now have ; but I could 
only rely on my confidence in the integrity and 
ability of the gentlemen who have control of 
these improvements. And now, Mr. Speaker, 
we find this vast system, which casual observ- 
ers think, in its magnitude, must cost at least 
$20,000,000, has been completed, or can be, 
within the amount appropriated by the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, when Congress has done its 
share in paying for improvements in front of 
its own property. In other words, the Board 
of Public Works has accomplished with about 



8 



$6,000,000 what its enemies said could not be 
done for $20,000,000. Verily, out of the 
mouths of those who would destroy them are 
they vindicated. 

It cannot be denied that in a work reaching 
the doorway of thousands of our citizens, 
putting them to inconvenience and expense, 
indeed, revolutionizing the habits of our 
people somewhat, the board have incurred 
enmities and hostilities which would even 
pursue them upon this floor. 

I have, since this measure has been brought 
to the attention of the Committee on Appro- 
priations, seen the track of several of these 
men in the Capitol, who are engaged in the 
extraordinary business of attempting to pre- 
vent this House from relieving our people 
at this juncture by the defeat of this bill. 
Sir, there is not one of them whose memory 
would not be gibbeted and handed down to 
posterity in infamy if his name were published 
tothe world. What can any member of Congress 
here think of one of our own citizens who, to 
gratify a little pique toward some person con- 
nected with our District government, would 
come here and stab the dearest interests of our 
people ? If such a person should come to me I 
would turn from him as I would from a moral 
leper. I would not believe his statements 
under oath, much less would I allow them to 
influence me in a matter of such fairness and 
justice as this now before the House. I have 
no words with which to characterize the con- 
duct of such men, and I say it with some pride, 
that there are not many such in this com- 
munity. 

It has been suggested to me by members 
on this floor that the sentiment of the peo- 
ple is against improvements. There is noth- 
ing wider from the truth. When the ques- 
tion was presented to the people at the first 
election under the organic act whether they 
would elect a Delegate in harmony with the 
local government, which contemplated expen- 
sive improvements of the city, they decided by 
the largest vote ever cast in the District that 
improvements should be commenced. Subse- 
quently, on the precise question of authoriz- 
ing a loan for the purpose of improvements, 
the vote stood 14,760 for it and 1,213 against it. 

Last summer, after these improvements had 
been inaugurated and carried forward toward 
completion, upon an issue distinctly made 



before the people involving the character of 
the improvements and the general manage- 
ment of the Board of Public Works, the people 
again reiterated their determination in the 
matter by a majority of over fifty-five hundred. 
I think, therefore, Mr. Speaker, I am reflect- 
ing only the public sentiment of this community 
in urging upon the House this appropriation 
on the ground that it is due from the Govern- 
ment for improvements wisely, judiciously, 
and economically made. 

Nor is it true, as has been stated, that the 
wealth and intelligence of the District have 
not sustained this scheme of public improve- 
ments. On the contrary, the wealth and in- 
telligence are among the interests most deeply 
interested and most largely benefited ; and the 
intelligent and wealthy comprehend wisely that 
to discourage this new movement is to destroy 
all hope of the future greatness of the capital. 
And, on theotherhand, that classof people who 
are small property-holders, but who have the 
average general intelligence possessed by the 
American people, not only reason in the same 
direction, but they know instinctively that they 
are right in encouraging enterprises which de- 
velop the interests of the District. But I will not 
longer trespass upon the patience of the House, 
for the further consideration of this bill may 
develop a discussion in which I shall have to 
take part, and I may then state such further 
facts as do not now occur to me. Of one thing 
this Congress may be assured : the people of 
this District, so far as their pecuniary ability 
will allow, are determined to make the national 
capital a fit residence for the Government. 
In this we hope to have that support which we 
can rightfully claim from an enlarged states- 
manship and a true comprehension of the future 
greatness of our country. This is not a city 
of traffic, of commerce or manufactures — 
though I hope it may be ; but it is a political 
center, representative of all the interests of 
this great people. It should be the home of 
art — of national institutions which will com- 
bine to illustrate the history, progress, and 
theory of the greatest Government on earth. 
A nation's capital is an index to a nation's 
prosperity ; and the glory of our national capi- 
tal should be, not the glory of the people of 
the District of Columbia, but the glory of th 
nation. It is this broader view which I urg 
upon your consideration. 



District Affairs, 



SPEECH 



HON. NORTON -P. CHIPMAN, 



DISTRICT COLUMBIA, 



IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, 



FEBRUARY 5, 1873. 



IN REPLY TO HON. ROBERT B. ROOSEVELT, PRINTED IN THE GLOBE 

JANUARY 29, 1873. 



WASHINGTON: 
F. & J. RIVES & GEO. A. BAILEY, 

REPORTERS AND PRINTERS OF THE DEBATES OF CONGRESS. 

1873. 



District Affairs, 



[Mr. Chipman obtained leave to reply to Mr. 
Roosevelt, upon matters relating to the District of 
Columbia. — Congressional Globe, page 1115.] 

Mr. CHIPMAN. Mr. Speaker, on the last 
Friday of January I was instructed by the 
Committee for the District of Columbia to 
report a bill to enlarge the board of trustees 
for colored schools. While occupying the floor 
for that purpose, the gentleman from New 
York [Mr. Roosevelt] moved an amendment 
which I favored, but which I could not, under 
the instructions of the committee, admit. I 
knew that his purpose was not to speak to the 
bill then pending, but, on the contrary, to 
make an assault upon the officers of the Dis- 
trict government, and especially the Board of 
Public Works. 

I have been much censured by some of my 
colleagues on the committee, and complained 
against by some others on this floor, for allow- 
ing the gentleman to proceed out of order, as 
he did, to speak upon a matter not germane to 
the bill. Perhaps I erred ; but I trust those 
who disagreed with me in the course I took 
will conclude that after all it was better, per- 
haps, to know the full extent of the gentle- 
man's opposition to the District government 
and its officers, which he takes every occa- 
sion, proper and improper, to manifest in and 
out of this House. I knew that he was exert- 
ing whatever influence he possesses to poison 
the minds of members, and I knew, too, that 
in some instances he was doing this at the 
expense of truth ; and I felt that if he was right 
in many of the charges which he was freely 
making to members, and I was wrong in 
believing them to be untrue, that it was much 



better the truth should be brought to light, 
even though my friends might suffer. I could 
not reply at the moment, for a careful exam- 
ination and computation of figures were neces- 
sary to a complete answer, and nothing short 
of this would have satisfied the House. That 
answer I now propose to make. 

The speech delivered by the honorable gen- 
tleman, which I find published in the Globe 
of the 29th January, was a fierce and un- 
warranted attack upon the Board of Public 
Works, their annual report, and their exten- 
sive operations. Statements which have no 
foundation in fact were plausibly paraded with 
a view, I fear, to deceive Congress and the 
people of the United States, and to place the 
board before them in the attitude of corrupt 
and dishones-t officials. Piling Ossa on Pelion, 
he launched invectives and made assertions 
which I here boldly assert are utterly without 
foundation in fact. Not satisfied with dis- 
torting and suppressing facts, he sought to 
reflect upon his colleagues of the committee 
by proposing the appointment of a commis- 
sion of persons not members of this honor- 
able body, and independent both of the com- 
mittee and of this House. This he did in face 
of the fact that the Board of Public Works 
have never refused, but, on the contrary, have 
studiously sought to furnish all information 
required by Congress and the public necessary 
to a full understanding of the comprehensive 
system of improvements which they are so 
ably carrying into effect. It would seem that 
any Representative who possesses ordinary in- 
.stincts of justice would have sought accurate 
information before indulging in such accusa- 



tions as characterized his speech. But he ap- 
pears to have rushed madly to his conclusions 
and drawn largely on his imagination for his 
facts. 

I think, Mr. Speaker, I do not overestimate 
the importance of fully answering the gentle- 
man. Aside from whatever impression it may 
have made upon the members of this House, 
I find that it has been advertised in our daily 
papers, I believe without exception, so that 
its mischief 13 designed to reach further than 
this House. 

I read an advertisement clipped from one of 
the papers, which I found published in three of 
them. I hope the gentleman did not himself 
cause this to be inserted : 

"Startling disclosures ! — To members of Congress 
and the public generally: Get the Congressional 
Globe of the 29th of January, 1873, andreadearefully 
the startling disclosures made in a speech in the 
House of Representatives on the 24th of January, 
1873, by Hon. R. B. Roosevelt, of New York, upon 
our 'District affairs.' TAX-PAYER." 

After reviewing the organization of our local 

government, which is not important at this 

moment, the gentleman comes to what I may 

denominate as 

CHARGE FIRST. 

Speaking of the report of the Board of 
Public Works made to the President, the gen- 
tleman says : 

" On page 8 of the same report wc find a state- 
ment of the amount of work done by this board, 
consisting of thirty-four and twenty-six hun- 
dredths miles of wood pavement, five and five hun- 
dredths miles of round wood pavement, eighty- 
seven hundredths miles compound pavement, and 
sixteen and thirty hundredths miles of concrete 
pavement, making a pavement of some fifty-six 
miles, of the most expensive character, in the streets 
in the District of Columbia, the wooden portion 
costing S3 50, and the concrete $3 20 per yard ; in 
addition to which there is granite and macadam 
and cobblestone pavements, and country roads, 
enough to make a total of one hundred and fifteen 
miles, which the board has computed and put down 
at 1,892,939 yards, allowing that the streets were 
thirty-two feet wide. 

"Here we find the first great discrepancy in this 
report, and the first great and apparent blunder or 
fraud; for one hundred and fifteen miles of road 
contain more than 2,167,000 yards, showing a mistake 
of over 272.000 yards, which, at an expenditure of 
$3 50 a yard, would make a difference of almost a 
million dollars. A trivial matter possibly to those 
spending the money, but quite serious to those who 
have to pay it." 

This is a grave charge, and I hope the gen- 
tleman felt the full weight of his responsibility 
in making it. 

I call attention to the fact that the board 
are not here (on page 8) attempting to make 
a financial statement. They are simply com- 
puting the pavements in miles and yards, not 
the cost. I have carefully computed the num- 
ber of vards and miles, and the cost : and it 



will be seen that the computation, properly 

made, agrees exactly with the statement made 

by the board. The table is as follows : 

Table "B." — Computed statement of cost of certain 
improvements made on pages 8 and 9 of Report of 
Board of Public Works, November, 1871. 

Carriage-ways — in yards. 

651,765 yards of wood pavement, S3 50..$2,281,177 50 
94,805 yards of round block pavement, 

at$l 75 165.908 75 

16,333 yards of compound pavement, 

at S3 50 57,165 50 

306,761 yards of concrete pavement, at 

S3 20 981,635 20 

75,281 yards of Belgian pavement, at 

S3 10 233 37110 

147,776 yards of McAdam pavement, 

at$l 50 221,664 00 

126,905 yards of cobble pavement, at 55 

cents 63,797 75 

473,313 yards of graveled streets, at 15 

cents 70,996 95 

I 1,892,939 S4.0S1.716 75 

Ga rriage-icays — in miles. 

! 34.71 miles of wood pavement, at $65,706 55 per 

mile S2.231.177 50 

I . 5.05 miles of round block pavement, 

at $32,853 27 per mile 165,908 75 

0.87 miles of compound pavement, at 

$65,706 55 per mile 57,165 50 

I 16.34 miles of concrete pavement, at 

S60.074 56 per mile 981,635 20 

4.01 miles of Belgian pavement, at 

$58,197 23 per mile 233,371 10 

*8.08 miles of McAdam pavement, at 

$23,159 95 per mile 221,664 00 

6.76 miles of cobble pavement, at 

$10,325 52 per mile 69,797 75 

2.90 miles of graveled streets in city, at 

$2,815 99 per mile 5,631 98 

37.22 miles of graveled streets, twenty 

feet wide, in county 65,364 97 



115.04 



$4,081,716 75 



The gentleman computes all the roadway at 
thirty-two feet wide, and ou that computation 
he is not far wrong. But he knew very well 
at the time he made the computation, or ought 
to have known if he had remembered what he 
once knew with regard to the matter, that 
thirty-seven and twenty-seven hundredths miles 
of the one hundred and fifteen miles to which 
he alludes were only twenty feet wide, and 
thus vanishes the two hundred and seventy-two 
thousand yards discrepancy which the gentle- 
man thought he had discovered. 

I call attention of the House in this connec- 
tion to a further fact : that after he had dis- 
covered a discrepancy of two hundred and 
seventy-two thousand yards, in order to make 
the board as odious as possible in your eye, he 
multiplied that amount by $3 50 per yard, 
which was the highest price paid for any pave- 
ment, when he had before him, in the report 
of the board, the fact that thirty-seven miles 

* This ought to have been 7.90 in place of 8.08. 



of his one hundred and fifteen cost but fifteen 
cents per yard, being simply graveled streets. 

He knew also that other of the pavements 
cost fifty-five cents per yard ; other $1 50 : 
other $1 75; other $3 10 ; still other $3 20. 
And yet the gentleman, with matchless unfair- 
ness, and I may almost say effrontery, attempts 
to mislead the House by selecting the highest 
price paid for any pavements, in order to make 
this supposed discrepancy as much as possible. 

I here discover the "first great discrepan- 
cy," the " first blunder or fraud" in the gentle- 
man's speech. 

Mr. Speaker, I quote the gentleman's lan- 
guage, " blunder" or " fraud." I hope this is 
parliamentary. Blunt men might characterize 
the gentleman's statement in a short word; 
but it might not be in order, and I refrain. 
We are permitted, I believe, to traduce and 
call all the rest of the world hard names, but 
we ms6t not always speak the truth of col- 
leagues on this floor. 

It will be seen, by reference to the table 
<4 B" which I have submitted, that the number 
of yards of roadway is proved by the number 
of miles, both agreeing to a cent, and aggre- 
gating $4,081,716 75. Thus this " first great 
discrepancy" vanishes into thin air — this "first 
great and apparent blunder or fraud" is 
shown only to exist in a diseased imagination. 

FIEST CHARGE— ANOTHER FORM. 

But <; this is not all," continues the gentle- 
man. He calls attention to a speech made by 
the vice president of the board, in October 
last, and speaking of the remarks of that gen- 
tleman says: 

" He then said there were twenty and forty-one 
hundredths miles completed, and twenty-one and 
forty-four hundredths miles iu course of completion, 
making a total of only forty-one and eighty-five 
hundredths miles on the 3d of October, while on the 
1st day of November he presents a report in which 
he claims to have finished and completed one hun- 
dred and fifteen miles of road. In other words, there 
is a discrepancy equal to more than the whole 
amount of work then alleged to be done, unless 
we can believe that while eighteen months were 
required to complete forty-two miles, seventy-three 
miles could be begun and finished in four weeks." 

Here again the gentleman sees through a 
glass darkly. The vice president of the board 
in stating the number of miles of streets, takes 
them at their actual width, varying from thirty- 
two to eighty feet, while in the report of the 
board they are assumed to be thirty-two feet, 
except as to those graveled streets outside of 
the city. 

There is a maxim in law, somewhere, that 



runs falsum in uno falsum in omnibus. I 
shall not rely upon this maxim, but will pro- 
ceed to notice, step by step, each charge which 
the gentleman makes, and shall show them all 
to be utterly without foundation. 

SECOND CHARGE. 

I come to notice what may be denominated 
charge second. I quote from the gentleman : 
"The cost of improving the streets is stated in 
table twelve, which gives us the expense of twenty- 
nine streets and one alley, and furnishes a very fair 
average estimate of the true expenditures incurred 
by the board tor that purpose on the whole one hun- 
dred and fifteen miles of streets. But in drawing 
deductions I shall not take this estimate for the 
whole one hundred and fifteen miles. That would 
not be fair, as some are mere country roads. I shall 
confine my remarks entirely to the fifty-six miles 
i which were laid with the most expensive character 
of pavement. By these twenty-nine streets and one 
alley it is apparent that the everage cost is over forty 
dollars a running foot, and the fifty-six miles of 
pavement, at the same average, would involve an 
outlay of $11,827,200." 

Does not the gentleman know that assum- 
ing as a basis any of the streets or avenues in 
the city, they canuot be a fair average for work 
costing only fifteen cents per yard, which was 
the cost of a large portion of the one hundred 
and fifteen miles? But, with a show of fair- 
ness, he does not follow this as to the county, 
but takes fifty-six miles, which he says were 
laid with the most expensive character of 
pavement, thus making an average cost of forty 
dollars per running foot for the fifty-six miles ; 
in all, $11,827,200. This is important, for 
the gentleman is here undertaking to show 
that fifty-six miles of pavement cost more 
than double what the board claims to have 
expended on the whole one hundred and 
fifteen miles. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, let us see how these 

statements accord with the facts, as given in 

the following figures taken from the report, 

(see Table B,) remembering in the meanwhile 

that the gentleman has alleged that fifty-six 

miles of pavement has involved an outlay of 

$11,827,200: 

34.71 miles of wood pavement $2,281,177 50 

5.05 miles of round block pavement.... 165.903 75 
.87 miles of compound pavement at 

$63,706 55 per mile 57,165 50 

16.34 miles of concrete pavement at 

$60,074 56 per mile 931,635 20 

•56.97 

Making a total of $3,435,886 95 

A trifling mistake of the honorable member, 
in a single item, of $8,341,313 05 ! 

It is next alleged by the gentleman " that it 
cost $42 72 a lineal foot to lay those pave- 
ments, which would make the amount even 



6 



more than $11,827,200 for the fifty-six miles." 
In fifty-six miles, Mr. Speaker, there are, I 
believe, 295,680 lineal feet, which divided into 
$3,485,886 95, makes the cost per lineal foot 
$11 78— a slight mistake of only $30 94 cents 
per lineal foot in the calculations of this skill- 
ful arithmetician of the House. 

But the gentleman may reply that he alludes 
to the whole cost of the improvements on the 
street. Let me answer this assumption. The 
average cost per lineal foot of streets derived 
from the tables of assessments, namely, $39 96, 
not $42 72, cannot be applied to the fifty-six 
miles of improved streets, for the following 
reasons, namely : 

1. In the assessments all the intersections 
of streets are charged to the front foot of 
assessable property. 

2. All the expenses incurred in front of 
property exempt from taxation, churches, 
schools, alley openings, and other property ex- 
empt by special acts of Congress, are charged 
to the front foot of assessable property. 

3. All the wide streets, such as avenues and 
some others, must of necessity cost more than 
Btreets of which the width is assumed at 
thirty-two feet, on which width the above 
length of fifty-six miles is based. 

To apply any price at all, the cost of a 
street of thirty-two feet roadway must be 
used in the calculation, such as Twelfth street 
at $26 64, or Fourth street at $21 28, and for 
reasons already given the result will still be in 
excess of the actual amount. 

But we will take the former and larger figure, 
$26 64. Deducting from this, for reasons first 
and second, just given, twenty per cent., which 
is as nearly correct as can be arrived at, and 
we have $21 32 per lineal foot as the proper 
figure to be applied in the calculation. The 
result of the computation (thus corrected) of 
the cost of the fifty-six miles will be found 
to be $6,303,897 60, instead of $11,827,200. 
I am not here endeavoring to find out the 
actual cost, but am following the gentleman's 
hypothetical case and exposing its errors. 

SECOND CHARGE — ANOTHER FORM. 

Again the gentleman says : 

" Not relying entirely upon that estimate, I have 
also taken the trouble to investigate some of the 
assessments made against property-holders in this 
city for the same purpose. Taking the amount lev- 
ied upon private property in the case of four streets 
and one avenue, I find that the result is substan- 
tia:!:.- the same. In other words, that it cost $42 72 
a lineal foot to lay these pavements, which would 



make the amount even mor3 than $11,827,200 for the 
fifty-six miles." 

I ask what four streets and which avenue 
does the gentleman take? They differ greatly 
in cost. If he is no more candid here than 
before, I suppose he took the most expensive 
for his basis of calculation, and of course his 
result would not be unlike his former one. 

The point of the gentleman is to show that 
the board are pretending to have done one 
hundred and fifteen miles for less than thegen- 
tleman is showing fifty-six miles cost, and thus 
to prove the board liars. After this exposure 
there may be a question where the untruth will 
finally rest. 

SECOND CHARGE— STILL ANOTHER FORM. 

The gentleman changes his view point to 
show the increase of liabilities of the board and 
the unreliableness of their estimates. 

Still harping on the fifty- six miles as a 

basis, and trying to show that they cost about 

$4,000,000 more than the board claims to 

have done the whole work for, he says: 

"There is still another method of ascertaining: the 
actual cost of the work on the streets. At page 53 
there is an estimate of the amount required to com- 
plete the avenues. It is headed ' approximate esti- 
mate of the cost to complete the improvements of 
the avenues, &c, in the city of Washington, District 
of Columbia.' On fifteen avenues it foots up $2,650,- 
702 78. So that while the board claim they have only 
spent about $7,000,000 in all, of which a large propor- 
tion was devoted to other purposes, they admit that 
fifteen avenues will cost, to complete, after being 
worked on for eighteen months, the enormous sum 
of $2,650,702 78." 

And then adds : 

"Now I have had an estimate made— I do not 
pretend that it is perfectly accurate, but it is sub- 
stantially so— which computes these roads at ten 
miles in length. Consequently the cost of complet- 
ing the fifty-six miles of streets, on the estimate of 
the immaculate board itself, would be over five 
times as much, without regarding the amount not 
allowed for in this calculation as being already 
finished and paid for. At that rate the fifty-six 
miles would cost $14,840,000, leaving still the residue 
of the one hundred and fifteen miles to be estimated. 
Take it in any way, therefore, the result is pratic- 
cally the same, and each calculation confirms the 
other." 

Now, Mr. Speaker, the error in this calcu- 
lation is apparent when the true data are used. 
The gentleman's computer, against whose 
accuracy he enters a mild caveat, finds the 
length of the avenues ten miles, and the cost 
per mile $265,072, by dividing the miles into 
the whole' cost. The true length of the ave- 
nues is twenty-one and three tenths miles, 
instead of ten, and with this divisor, instead 
of ten, we find the true cost per mile to be 
$124,446, less than half his estimate. 

If the gentleman will try his arithmetic again , 
with the true data, he will find the result will 



be $6,968,976 instead of $14,840,000— a differ- 
ence between the truth and the misrepresenta- 
tion of $7,877,024! A trifling error, to be 
sure, but worth noting as we pass! 

Thus, Mr. Speaker, instead of striking the 
Board of Public Works a blow full in the 
face, as the gentleman supposed he was doing, 
he has thrown a "boomerang," which has 
returned and given the gentleman himself a 
very black eye. 

Now, sir, in pricking this arithmetical bub- 
ble, which the gentleman employed some 
ignoramus to blow for him, we are advancing 
toward a complete vindication of the board 
and proving the accuracy of their report. 

It is said that figures will not lie ; but my 
experience in reviewing the gentleman in this 
and one other speech convinces me that fig- 
ures will lie quite up to the standard of the 
father of lies. 

CHARGE THIRD— DEBT OF THE DISTRICT. 

The gentleman nest sums up the debt of the 

the District, from his conclusions, in this 

remarkable manner. He says : 

"But I have already shown an expenditure of 
nearly or quite $12,000,000, and you are also to com- 
pute the amount for country roads, for the Belgian 
pavement, for the cobble-stone pavement, for the 
gravel roads, none of which have I included; and 
for the other enormous expenditures of this board, 
not forgetting contingencies which appear largely 
and frequently. 'These cannot under any circum- 
stances fall below two or three million dollars, and 
are probably more. That sum, added to the $11,800,- 
000, would make fourteen or fifteen million dollars. 
There is already existing against this District a debt 
of between three and four million dollars. You get 
altogether the enormous total of from seventeen to 
eighteen million dollars. Incredible as this state- 
ment appears, I believe it to be well founded; in 
fact, if anything, it does not cover the full extent of 
these expenditures. The matter is understated, not 
overstated, as I shall proceed to show by going 
further into detail, and taking up the examination 
from a different direction." 

It will be seen that the gentleman sums up 
the debt created by the board at $15,000,000, 
the debt already existing against the District, 
with which the board has nothing to do, 
$4,000,000, making the debt of the District 
$19,000,000. And he asserts this is "under 
rather than overstated." I feel it to be my 
duty to expose this error. I read from report 
No. 7, third session Forty-Second Congress, 
from the Committee for the District of Colum- 
bia, page 1 : 

" On the 4th day of December, the following reso- 
lution was referred to this committee : 

" ' Whereas by act of Congress passed May 8, 1872, 
being chapter one hundred and forty-two of laws of 
1872, it was enacted that the debt of the District 
of Columbia should at no time exceed $10,000,000: 
Therefore, 

" 'Renolved, That the Committee for the District of 
Columbia be directed to ascertain aad report what 



is the present debt of the said District, including all 
liabilities incurred by the Board of Public Works 
thereof; and to further ascertain and report what 
sum will be required to finish the work undertaken 
by the said Board of Public Works.' 

"The resolution embraces three subjects of in- 
quiry: first, the debt of the District of Columbia: 
second, the liabilities incurred by the Board of 
Public Works thereof; and third, the sum necessary 
to finish the work undertaken by the Board of Pub- 
lic Works. In response to the first inquiry, the 
committee report that they had under considera- 
tion at the last session of Congress memorials of 
certain citizens of the District of Columbia, which 
were referred to this committee for investigation. 
Among other questions involved in the inquiry was 
the debt of the District of Columbia. 

" Upon a careful examination of the whole subject 
at that time, the committee reported the total debt 
of the District then to be $9,231,297 37." 

" With the view of ascertaining any change in the 
present indebtedness of the District since that time 
the committee called upon the comptroller of the 
District for a statement of its present debt." 

" The report of the comptroller is hereto appended, 
marked Exhibit A." 

" From this report it appears that the debt of the 
District and late corporation of December 10, 1872, 
was $3,47(5,122 65." ' 

" The comptroller excludes from his statement mar- 
ket-house bonds not issued, (see note to exhibit,) 
$172,000. He also excludes the estimated amount of 
outstanding claims, on account of contracts entered 
into by the corporation of Washington, which, by 
the act of the Legislative Assembly June 20, 1872, was 
to be settled by the commissioners of the sinking 
fund, to wit, $550,000. Adding this to the debt stated 
by the comptroller, gives the presentdebt of the Dis- 
trict $9,198,122 65, showing a decrease of the debt of 
$33,174 72." 

The committee then review the financial 
condition of the Board of Public Works and 
their liabilities and find their assets sufficient to 
m&tt their liabilities and that " no further 
sums will be required to complete the work 
undertaken, and for which liabilities have 
been incurred." 

Thus it will be seen, Mr. Speaker, that the 
gentleman is only $10,000,000 out of the way 
in the statement of the debt of the District. 
It may be doubted whether any of his state- 
ments of facts can be relied upon after this 
exposure. It would hardly seem necessary 
to comment upon a "discrepancy" so glaring 
in his statement. 

CHARGE FOURTH. 

"Still harping upon my daughter," the 
gentleman takes up the report and looks at it 
from another stand-point to show the largely 
increased indebtedness of the District and the 
excess of the board's liabilities over their 
showing ; but the graver charge is here made 
that the board willfully suppressed facts, 
omitted important estimates, and have de- 
monstrated the utter unreliableness of their 
report. Hear the gentleman : 

" We have here a list of contracts carried out as 
to amounts. There are five hundred and sixty con- 
tracts, which show the expense of each: but many 
of these contracts have been what they call ' ex- 



8 



tended;' that is, increased in extent beyond what 
was originally included in them. For instance, if 
they covered one street, they have been extended 
over two or three streets, greatly increasing the 
amount of work to be done, and of course the price 
to be paid. But not one dollar is carried out for 
those 'extensions;' in this whole list of contracts 
not one dollar, from beginning to end, is added for 
this excess of work, although the increase must 
amount to millions." 

He then takes up a single case as a sample., 
that of D. Hudnell, and he charges that the 
report shows that the estimated cost of exe- 
cuting the contract was $753 58, and that the 
contract was twice extended, but that no sum 
was set down in the column of estimates to 
cover the cost of these extensions, and then 
turns to another part of the report, where he 
finds that for the same work Hudnell was paid 
$24,056. With a flourish of indignant and 
righteous triumph he adds : 

" In other words, a contract for 1753 58 is swollen 
to one for more than $24,000. Here is a trifling dis- 
crepancy of thirty times the pretended expense, and 
conclusive evideuce that the report of the Board of 
"Works is wholly unreliable." 

The gentleman says that this is not a solitary 
case, that there are nearly a hundred in a sim- 
ilar condition, <*nd he submits a table of six- 
teen contracts where similar discrepancies 
exist as he claims, and he figures up the dif- 
ference between the actual cost of the con- 
tracts and what the board set down as the 
estimated cost in these sixteen contracts of 
over $500,000. 

The difficulty with the gentleman's state- 



ment is that it was based upon a copy of the 
report and exhibits which got into his hands 
before they had been proof-read, and therefore 
did not show the facts as the board really 
intended to show them in their report. 

I have taken the whole number of sixteen 
contracts which the gentleman used in his 
speech, and have prepared a table " C " show- 
ing the facts with regard to them as given by 
the official records of the board. In some 
cases it will be discovered that the actual cost 
of the work was less than the estimated cost ; in 
others the estimated cost was greater than the 
actual cost, the result showing an excess of 
the actual over the estimated cost. But, as I 
shall show further along, taking the whole list 
of contracts estimated for by the board, the 
total will not vary materially from the amount 
reported by the board. I ask the House to 
bear ia mind the fact that the only point 
which the gentleman is speaking to is that 
the estimated amount of liabilities given by 
the board does not represent their true liabil- 
ities by many millions of dollars. I assert 
that the report is substantially correct, and 
instead of showing less than their liabilities 
the board have shown more. The column 
of remarks explains all the cases referred to 
by the gentleman. I now submit the table 
to which I have referred, and ask to have it 
embodied in this connection with my remarks: 



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14 



The honorable member, growing somewhat 
facetious, says as follows : 

"The skill of these gentlemen in manipulating 
figures does not seem to be equal to their skill in 
managing the public property in this District. There 
is still a discrepancy of 894,000, which is nowhere 
accounted for or explained, and nowhere is there a 
reference to the Tiber creek sewer from Pennsylva- 
nia avenue to Indiana avenue, which cannot be 
much less than one thousand feet in length. The 
board forget such trivialities as $97,000. In strewing 
millions about as freely as they do, a hundred thou- 
sand or so would readily slip away ' untalked of 
and unseen.' " 

Here, with happy facility, the gentleman 
mingles the poet's lie-cense with the poet's 
fancy. On the list of contracts No. 122, in 
speaking of Tiber sewer, it is stated, Novem- 
ber 23, "extended from north side of Penn- 
sylvania avenue to Indiana avenue," and on 
page 14, supplemental appendix, 2,473 lineal 
feet of Tiber sewer at $102 50 are carried 
out at $253,482 50. The gentleman's own 
tabulated statement also gives the above in- 
formation as to extension, which he gets 



from the reported figures ; and yet he gravely 
informs this honorable body that " nowhere 
is there a reference to the Tiber creek sewer, 
from Pennsylvania avenue to Indiana ave- 
nue!" 

I call attention to page 9, report of* the 
Committee for the District of Columbia, No. 
72, second session Forty-Second Congress, 
where the opinion of the committee is given 
directly upon this question of the Tiber sewer. 
But yielding the discrepancy on the whole six- 
teen contracts as shown by the table, (C,) which 
is $243,414 56, and crediting the board with 
the amount shown on the table (D) which I ask 
to submit in this connection, and which is a 
table showing amount saved in doing work 
over the estimated cost, and showing also con- 
tracts annulled, making $267,074 91, a bal- 
ance is found in favor of the board, ou their 
own showing, of $23,659 35. The table is as 
follows: 



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16 



This, bear in mind, Mr. Speaker, where the 
member from New York claims a discrepancy 
against the board of $530,987 33 in sixteen 
contracts ; a trifling misrepresentation on his 
part of $554,646 68. 

I have prepared another table (E) which 
will give the. exact state of the facts as to 



I this alleged misrepresentation to be found in 
j the column of estimated liabilities of the 
! board. I submit in this connection this 
] table. It shows the actual cost of work, 
i estimated for in the column of liabilities of 
j the board, to be over $59,000 less than the 
l board stated it : 



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18 



It is not quite easy, Mr. Speaker, to hold 
the attention of the House to the point which 
the gentleman has been endeavoring to make 
in this connection, and which I am refuting. 

The point is simply this : the gentleman 
finds in the report of the board a column in 
the list of contracts for work done upon our 
improvements which shows the estimated cost 
of the work. These estimates, according to 
the board, amount to $6,387,933 15. The 
gentleman has assumed throughout his whole 
speech that this figure should be multiplied by 
two, and it would not even then show the true 
liabilities of the board. I am demonstrating 
mathematically that the gentleman is wholly 
in error, and that when the true statement is 
made, this column of estimated liabilities will 
be found to be in excess of the cost of the 
work given in the list of contracts. 

There is more here than an error of figures 
on the part of the gentleman. His whole 
theory as to the inaccuracy of the report of 
the board is exploded. As a mathematician 
the gentleman seems not to be a success. He 
may hardly aspire to be chief of our Bureau 
of Statistics. 

The gentleman rings out "discrepancy," 
" blunder," " fraud," through these Halls. 

" I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word." 

Having thus capped the climax of misrep- 
resentation, the honorable member says : 

"I shall not go through the other fourteen con- 
tracts, as there are no essential points to distin- 
guish them from those I have considered; but as 
confirmation to my conclusions, I may add that the 
subject of these extensions has been examined by 
gentlemen in this city, and while I cannot vouch for 
their investigation as correct, I can state, what I 
have no doubt will be to the satisfaction of gen- 
tlemen on the other side of the House, that Repub- 
licans have informed me the amount omitted in 
that report is $9,000,000." 

I have already conclusively shown, Mr. 
Speaker, that the gentleman has misrepre- 
sented the report of the board, and that with 
the single exception of a portion of the Tiber 
sewer, and some unimportant omissions not 
affecting the grand total, the extensions have 
all been carried out. The omission in the 
case of that Tiber sewer has I think been 
satisfactorily explained, and I will now add, 
for his consolation, that with respect to the con- 
tract with George Neitzey, for Twelfth street, 
and that with A. Campbell, for the East 
Capitol street sewer, the estimated expenses, 
as stated in the much reviled list, is in excess 
of the actual cost. 



What shall we say of the gentleman's con- 
clusion that $9,000,000 liabilities have been 
omitted, and that therefore the debt incurred 
by the board is $19,000,000 instead of $6,000- 
000? It would be interesting to know the 
"Republicans" who performed the legerde- 
main shown in the gentleman's figures. When 
next "Republicans" turn informers for the 
gentleman he had better remember the " gift- 
bearing Greeks." 

I have before me, Mr. Speaker, a tabulated 
statement dedicated to the gentleman from 
New York by one John H. Crane, of this city. 
Upon a careful comparison of the table sub- 
mitted by the honorable member with that 
prepared by Crane, I find that the gentle- 
man has not only copied the body of the table 
prepared by that mendacious person, but also 
his notes. 

He must be a bold man who will utter on 
this floor as fact any statement that may 
emanate from John H. Crane. Let me re- 
mind the gentleman that during the investi- 
gation last winter this man, who appeared in 
the double capacity of prosecutor and witness, 
swore that on the day of the election the board 
had in their employ thirteen thousand men, 
(see page 293 of the report,) and that when 
the rolls were produced by the superintendent 
of streets it was ascertained that the number 
of employes at that time under the board 
(including cart-drivers, who are generally boys) 
was eight hundred and nine — a less force than 
had been in their employ immediately previous 
to the election. (Ibid., page 653.) And in a 
criminal proceeding in one of our courts a 
score of citizens testified that he was not 
entitled to belief under oath. The internal 
evidences are conclusive that Crane's figures 
and the gentleman's are the same, and we 
may safely assume that upon the subject of 
the Board of Public Works Crane is the gen- 
tleman's authority, and speaks through him 
upon the floor of this House ; he is also prob- 
ably one of the " Republicans" who supplied 
the data of the gentleman's speech. If I can 
properly judge the desire of this honorable 
body, it is not their wish to gather informa- 
tion from the sewers or from mere idle gossip, 
or to be instructed or controlled by the state- 
ments of political mountebanks and courte- 
sans. A more mischievous and unreliable 
man cannot be found in our city than this 



19 



man Crane ; and it is humiliating to know 
that he has been given a hearing on this floor. 
Among the gentleman's objections to the 
report of the board is the fact that " the list 
of contracts is not certified" by the contract 
clerk. He is welcome to what of capital he 
may be able to make from this small point, 
though perhaps it would be well for him to 
have the clerk examined as to the cause of 
the omission. In the mean time I will inform 
the gentleman that the certificate was not 
deemed necessary for the sole reason that the 
list is a part of the report of the board, that 
they alone are responsible for its correctness, 
and that the clerk himself felt it would be 
mere affectation on his part to affix his certifi- 
cate to what had been adopted as genuine by 
the board. 

CHARGE FIFTH. 

The gentleman next proceeds to notice the 
appropriation of $1,240,000 made recently by 
Congress to reimburse the board for expend- 
itures in front of Government property. He 
says that he will proceed to show " frauds 
against the Government of a character which 
will astonish the gentlemen who hear " him. 

I know of no law of morals or common de- 
cency which will warrant a member on this floor 
in making a charge of this character against 
officers of the United States or any other per- 
sons unless they are founded on fact ; and I 
shall proceed to show that this charge is 
wholly destitute of fact. The gentleman's 
misstatements are the coinage of his own 
brain. They are " out of whole cloth." 

1. He first charges the board with suppressing 
a page of their report, as "telling unwelcome 
truths." The gentleman is wholly mistaken. 
When the report was finally completed and 
made up, the page to which the gentleman re- 
fers, and which in his proof copy was probably 
his "last page," was placed in another part 
of the report, page 15 supplemental appendix. 

2. The gentleman says that pavement charged 
at one dollar to the United States cost the 
board ninety cents a yard. The fact is that 
when the board first made its contracts eighty 
cents, not ninety cents, was fixed as the price 
for pavement, but the coritract stipulated that 
this was based on the fact that bricks could be 
furnished at $11 50 per thousand. It was after- 
ward found that bricks could not be purchased 
at this price, having advanced to $14 50 and 



sixteen dollars per thousand. This made the 
cost of pavement more than was originally sup- 
posed, and the Government in paying one dol- 
lar paid precisely what property-holders in the 
city have paid for the same pavement. 

3. The gentleman charges that curbing which 
the board laid at $1 25 they charged to the 
United States at $1 50. The facts are as fol- 
lows : The 'Cost of curbing at the wharf (re- 
duced) is, per lineal foot, one dollar ; hauling, 
eight cents; rejointing and redressing, fifteen 
cents; setting, thirty cents ; add five per cent., 
nine cents, for superintendence, engineering, 
&c: making a total of $1 62, It will thus be 
seen that the board instead of making twenty- 
five cents, -as the gentleman claims, lost upon 
this item twelve cents per lineal foot. 

4. The gentleman charges that twelve-inch 
tile sewer cost the board $1 40, and that the 
board charged the Government five dollars 
for the same sewer per foot. The answer to 
this is very simple. The sewers laid in front 
of the Government property average eighteen 
inches instead of twelve, and the board has 
charged the Government nothing for the main 
sewers, a proportion of which should be paid 
by the Government but is not. 

The cost of laying eighteen-inch sewer per 
foot, $2 30 ; man-holes, traps, and construc- 
tion reduced per lineal foot, $2 18 ; five per 
cent, for superintendence, engineering, &c, 
twenty-two cents ; total would give, $4 70. 

5. The gentleman says : 

"I will take the items charged for a single square, 
Judiciary square, page 40 of the report, generally 
known as City Hall reservation, and will show an 
amount of fraud in them that I think will astonish 
the House." 

He then says that there is a charge made 
against the United States for concrete pave- 
ments on Fifth street along this square amount- 
ing to $13,491 25, and he adds, with an em- 
phasis of holy horror : " But, sir, there is no 
concrete pavement there !" And this, among 
other items, the gentleman asserts has been 
paid by the United States. 

The gentleman claims in his speech to have 
seen the voucher in the Treasury Department, 
and he asserted on the floor, although I be- 
lieve he suppressed that portion of his speech, 
that it> was very remarkable that the engineer 
iu charge of the public buildings and grounds 
should be able in his measurements to coin- 
cide exactly with the account rendered by the 
Board of Public Works, and pay to the last 



20 



cent that account, thereby insinuating as he 
did that, there was collusion between the 
Board of Public Works and the Government 
engineer. 

If the gentleman had compared the very first 
item in the bill of the board as published in 
their report with the voucher paid he would 
have seen that it was stricken out. The 
amount was $4,000, and ought to have at- 
tracted the gentleman's attention. It must 
be evident, therefore, that the gentleman 
was not searching for truth so much as 
to make a case against the Board of Public 
Works. 

I submit in this connection a letter written 

by the engineer in charge of public buildings 

and grounds to the Board of Public Works as 

a complete refutation of the charge made by 

the gentleman: 

Office of Public Buildings and Grounds, 

Washington, 1). 0., January 30, 1873. 

Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt 
of your letter of this date, in which you state that in 
a speech made by Mr. Robert B. Roosevelt, and 
published in the Globe of the :29th instant, certain 
charges are made reflecting upon me and the Board 
of Public Works in the matter of measurements for 
work charged the United States Government at 
Judiciary square. 

You also request me to examine those statements 
and furnish an answer as to the correctness of the 
charges; also whether the appropriation made in 
the deficiency bill was not much less than the amount 
actually due the board. 

In reply, I have to state that I have read the 
speech to which you refer, and find that Mr. Roose- 
velt states as follows, namely : 

"But they by no means constitute all the errors; 
there are false measurements and charges as well. 
As a specimen of this I will hastily and rapidly as I 
can, for my time is rapidly running out, examine 
one single reservation. I will take the items charged 
for a single square. Judiciary square, page 49 of the 
report, generally known as the City Hill reserva- 
tion, and will show an amount of fraud in them that 
I think will astonish the House. 

"In the first place there is a charge for concrete 
pavement of Fifth street along the square ; this is 
charged to the United States Government at 
613,491 20. But, sir, there is no concrete pavement 
there." 

Mr. Roosevelt further states that— 

"There is an entry against the same reservation 
of seven hundred and fifty-four lineal feet of sewer 
on G street, adding up $3,770, and one thousand one 
hundred feet in Fifth street adding up $5,500, and 
still another sewer in Fourth street eleven hundred 
feet long, charged at $5,500, which, so far as it exists, 
was built under Mayors Wallach and Bowen. years 
ago, and has been all paid for except some four or 
five hundred dollars." 

Mr. Roosevelt further states as follows: 

" The amounts demanded by the Board of Public 
Works I have given in the extracts from the reports 
which 1 have read to the House. These amounts 
seem to have been all paid. I have seen, although 
I was unable to examine critically, the voucher in the 
Treasury Department under which this $1,250,920 92 
was drawn. I find it certified to by the officer of the 
Government, and the sum total is. I believe, dollars 
and cents, the precise sum asked for by the board." 

As to the correctness of these charges made by 
Mr. Robert B. Roosevelt, I submit the following 
extract from the voucher in the Treasury Depart- 



ment, which Mr. Roosevelt states he has seen, but 
has not examined critically: 
City Hall reservation on G and Fourth streets : 

J?urbing 1,907 lineal feet, at $1 50 $2,860 50 

•Circular curbing, 49 lineal feet, at $2 50 122 50 

Sidewalk, brick, 1.626 square yards, at $100.. 1,626 00 
Sidewalk, asphalt, 971 square yards, at 

$1 25 1,310 82 

Carriage-way, asphalt, 7,860, less one 

sixth, 1,310=6,550 square yards, at $3 20... 20,960 00 

Sodding 3,090 square yards, at fifty cents 1,545 00 

Sewers on G street, 840. less, one sixth, 

140=700 lineal feet, at $4 70 3,290 00 

Total $31,714 85 



From this extract it will be seen that in the 
voucher certified to by me there is no "charge for 
concrete pavement on Fifth street, along the square," 
and that the total amount of sewers charged for is 
$3,290, and not $14,770, and that the amount paid by 
the United States for the improvements at the City 
Hall reservation is $24,971 20 less than the amount 
stated by Mr. Roosevelt, who, if he examines the 
voucher on file in the Treasury "critically," will 
find that " the false measurements and false charges" 
exist only in his speech. 

Finally, I have to state that the work done by the 
Board of Public AVorks for Government reserva- 
tions, as measured and estimated under my direction, 

amounts to $1,321,957 52 

That the voucher in the Treasury cer- 
tified to by me amounts to 1,240,752 64 

Leaving a balance unpaid of $81,204 88 



In addition to this there is considerable work in 
progress which, being unfinished, was not estimated 
at all ; such as the carriage-way around the Circle at 
P and Nineteenth streets, and the carriage-way, 
flagging, and curbing at Scott's statue. And by a 
clerical error the wooden pavement around the 
Circle at Pennsylvania avenue and Twenty-third 
street northwest was omitted entirely. 
Respectfully, yours, O. E. BABCOCK. 

Maj. of Engineers, U. S. A., in charge 
of Public Buildings, Grounds, and Works. 
Hon. A. R. Shepherd, 

Vice President Board of Public Works. 

The honorable member, not yet having ex 
hausted his subject, next proceeds to pay his 
respects to county expenditures, in the fallow- 
ing words : 

" On page 16 of the report we have a statement 
of the board purporting to give the total expenses 
of county works, county roads, &c. In that con- 
nection the board was anxious to reduce the amount, 
and to show how little money they had spent, how 
economical they had been, and how carefully they 
had kept within the appropriations which they were 
authorized to expend. They give the amount at 
$123,089 72. But when they come before this gen- 
erous House of Congress to ask for an appropri- 
ation, they see the thing in a new lisht, and looking 
through the other end of the magnifying glass pro- 
duce a very different result. At page 50 they give 
the amount which for the same purposes they have 
charged on the same account the Government. It. 
reads as follows : ' roads in county, first legislative 
district, east of Lincoln avenue and Bunker Hill 
road, $120,111 23; second legislative district, west of 
Lincoln avenue and Bunker Hill road. $214,340 24;' 
making a total of $334,451 47, instead of $123,000." 

The item of $123,089 72, to which the gen- 
tleman refers, is given on page 10 of the report, 
and is work not done by contract. It forms a 
part of the total of $334,451 47, the difference 



21 



being work done under contracts, of which 
there are sixty-nine. 

In answer to au interrogatory the gentleman 
states that he went before the Committee on 
Appropriations for the purpose of calling their 
attention to some of these facts, as he is pleased 
to dignify his misrepresentations. He declares, 
however, that his position was a peculiar one, 
as he " felt the United States Governmentwas 
under obligations to the people of the District, 
and was bound in honor to assist them." Yet, 
under cover of his hatred toward the board, he 
appeared before the committee and exerted 
his utmost power to prevent a favorable report 
upon the appropriation. His expressions of 
interest will be estimated at their proper value 
in this community, and his singular mode of 
exhibiting his friendly feeling for our people 
will compare favorably with his peculiar method 
of turning fiction into facts. How soon he 
disappeared after he fired his diminutive gun, 
as though afraid of the recoil ! Doubtless as 
he journeyed to his New York home he con- 
soled himself by the reflection that — 

" He who fights and runs away 
May live to fight another day." 

And then how solicitous he is not to be con- 
sidered as reflecting upon the President ! He 
assails in abusive terms executive appointees, 
and yet does not wish to be understood as 
censuring the power that placed them in 
authority and keeps them there. With an eye 
to recent events in his own city, he says, 
" There may be some palliation in the weak- 
ness of human nature for the man who steals 
public money intrusted to him, but the official 
who squanders it deserves the same punish- 
ment as the criminal guilty of arson." The 
men he thus assails are in all respects his 
peers; they are known to the Chief Magis- 
trate, by whom they were appointed, and by 
whom they are retained in office ; and I do 
not believe that any citizen feels a greater 
pride in the improvements which are now 
developing the beautiful features of the seat 
of Government than he who did so much with 
his sword to make it the permanent capital 
of a united people. In evidence of this, and 
his confidence in the Board of Public Works, 
let me read the following extract from his 
message to the present Congress : 

" Since the establishment of a territorial govern- 
ment for the District of Columbia, the improvement 



of the condition of the city of Washington and sur- 
roundings, and the increased prosperity of the citi- 
zens, is observable to the most casual visitor. The 
nation, being a large owner of property, should bear 
with the citizens of the District its just share of the 
expense of these improvements. 

'*I recommend, therefore, an appropriation to re- 
imburse the citizens for the work done by them 
along and in front of public grounds during the past 
year, and liberal appropriations in order that the 
improvement and embellishment of the public 
buildings and grounds may keep pace with the im- 
provements made by the territorial authorities.'' 

Of a like nature is the gentleman's asser- 
tions that the board " have used up all the 
funds of the District government appropriated 
to ordinary purposes, so that the school- teach- 
ers, the firemen, and the police are unpaid," 
" contractors are on the point of failure," and 
that the laborers are in a "state of riot." I 
pronounce each of these statements at variance 
with truth, and here declare that not one dol- 
lar has been drawn from'the District by the 
board except such as has been appropriated 
by the Legislature for their uses. Their labor- 
ers and employes have been paid in full to 
January 1 of the present year; their con- 
tractors, I am informed, have been paid as 
rapidly as the resources of the board would 
permit, and as promptly as in any other city 
in the United States. 

MORE APPROPRIATIONS. 

It is true, as the gentleman alleges, that the 
Board of Public Works have expressed their 
intention to apply to us for $2,000,000 duriug 
this session to continue the improvements of 
the city. Why should they not, Mr. Speaker? 
An examination of the public records of the 
country will show that since 1802 the General 
Government has expended for the improve- 
ment of our streets and avenv.es $1,321,288 31. 
During the same period the city of Washington 
has expended $13,921,767 15, or the citizens 
have paid ninety percent, and the Government 
ten per cent., and I leave out of this computa- 
tion nearly $2,000,000 which have been ex- 
pended by Georgetown and the county of 
Washington ; and yet the United States owns, 
and has owned, not less than two fifths of the 
city of Washington. I will not here discuss 
the duty of the General Government toward its 
capital. The gentleman expresses his willing- 
ness to help discharge this duty. The only 
difficulty he has is to permit anything, to be 
done while the present Board of Public Works 
are in power. I hope I have conviuced him 
that he can afford to risk the public money 



22 



in their hands. A careful examination of 
their report will show that the money expended 
by them hitherto has in the main been more 
economically and wisely expended than a sim- 
ilar amount in his or any other city, as I be- 
lieve, in the United States. 

I hope I may be pardoned, while on this 
subject of the obligations of the General Gov- 
ernment toward its capital, in quoting from 
the testimony taken before an investigation 
into the affairs of the District last winter. 

I quote from pages 740 and 741 the testi- 
mony of Hon. Francis P. Blair : 

"By Mr. Chipman : 

" Question. I would like to have your views in 
regard to the obligation that the G-eneral Govern- 
ment owes to this District to make it a proper resi- 
dence and place for the capital of the nation. 

"Answer, The Father of his Country laid out the 
city for the nation ; h» never believed that a com- 
mercial people would live here. He judged wisely 
that these broad avenues were necessary for the 
capital of a great people like ours ; he laid them 
out so that they can be parked, and the health of 
the city secured. They are laid out so that the 
air can pass through the city in every direction. 
These broad streets are parks themselves; and 
this will be the most beautiful city the earth has 
ever seen. 

" Question. You know something of the tradi- 
tions and the history of the location of the capital 
here. Can you state what was the purpose of the 
founders? 

"Answer. It was designed that it should be the 
most beautiful city of the greatest continent of the 
earth ; and it ought to have the assistance of the 
whole nation. 

"Question. You regard it, and the founders of the 
city regarded it, as a matter in which the whole 
nation has an interest ? 

"Answer. Yes, sir; for such a nation as ours. It 
looks back to the Old World and sees all those great 
cities of the past built on the sand; but this city is 
built on an elevation. Paris is on a little stream, 
the Seine, not much broader than our canal; but 
here is the broad Potomac; and all these hills about 
the city are connected with the mountains, so that 
here is to be a city right at the falls of the Potomac 
which has the mountain air. Near my house you 
can see the Blue Ridge in Virginia, and Sugar Loaf 
mountain in Maryland. This region is elevated and 
healthy, above tide-water. At the District line it is 
five hundred feet above the ocean. It will not sink 
here like cities covered with the deserts of sand in 
the Old World. 

"Question. I want you to give us the traditions 
upon that subject for the use of the committee, and 
for other persons in Congress who think that the 
national Government has no obligations in this 
particular. 

"Answer. I think the founders of the city enter- 
tained no such opinion. Congress has never acted 
upon that idea. Congress is the founder of this city, 
and made it what it is. It is the nation's city, and 
its very construction shows that it is made for a 
great people." 

Mr. Blair is one of the few surviving links 
between the founders of this capital city and 
the present generation, and he is one of the 
few in 4 this community of that old school of 
men who seem to have retained some of the 
early pride of the founders of the capital. His 
views are broad, liberal, and statesmanlike. 



I commend them to the House for their wis- 
dom and their patriotism. 

Speaking of the Board of Public Works, 
Mr. Blair testified : 

"I believe the plans generally adopted by the 
city government the best ever suggested. They do 
honor to the taste and genius of those who designed 
them." 

CERTIFICATES OF ASSESSMENTS VOID. 

The gentleman charges that the certificates 
of indebtedness issued for improvement! are 
void. Why he should seek to discredit our 
securities by expressing the opinion I cannot 
say, but I can assure him that he stands alone 
so far as I know in his opinion. 

At least two cases have been taken to the 
supreme court of this District, and the assess- 
ment held to be valid. 

A leading bank in the city of New York has 
contracted to take $1,000,000 of these certifi- 
cates, as fast as they can be delivered. I think, 
therefore, the gentleman may dismiss his fears 
upon this point. 

VIOLATION OF THE ORGANIC ACT. 

The gentleman charges that the Legislature 
violated the organic, act by increasing the sal- 
ary of the treasurer of the Board of Public 
Works, and that the board violated the law in 
creating the office of treasurer. He says that — 

" The organic act provides specifically that no sal- 
ary of any officers should be increased, and that no 
additional compensation should be given to any 
member of the government beyond the amount of 
his salary." 

The answer to this is : that there is no such 
provision in the organic act, and there is there- 
fore no violation on the part of the Legisla- 
ture. I may explain that the organic act pro- 
vides that the Board of Public Works shall 
draw money from the treasury of the District 
upon their warrants. 

Having thus legally obtained possession of 
funds, the next step was to disburse them in 
payment of their obligations. This could only 
be done through some person selected for that 
purpose. The board chose for this respons- 
ible duty one of their own number, and this 
was done in accordance with a well estab- 
lished principle of law that when a duty is 
imposed upon an officer he is authorized to 
employ such agencies as will enable him to 
discharge it properly. Recoguizing the in- 
creased labor and responsibility thus imposed 
upon the member of the board selected as 
treasurer, the Legislature voted him a salary. 



23 



This, I contend, they had a right to do, and I 
need hardly remind members that there are 
few, if any, of our Territories in which the 
Legislatures have not increased the salaries of 
the territorial officers. This I know to be the 
fact with respect to the judicial officers of many 
of the Territories. If the people of the District 
chose to pay the treasurer of the board a salary 
in addition to that allowed by Congress, no one 
here has the right to question their action, 
much less to interfere. 

In this connection the gentleman calls 
attention to several contracts that are marked 
"canceled" in the list; and here, as else- 
where, he shows bis utter ignorance of the 
whole subject by attempting to convey the im- 
pression that one contract is marked canceled 
nine times. The explanation of this is simple, 
and was within the reach of the gentleman if 
he had desired to inform himself. Contracts, 
as they appear in the list, are numbered from 
one to five hundred and ninety-two. The 
copy of the report which he examined did not 
contain the numbers, and hence the error into 
which he has fallen. With these numbers 
as they appear upon the corrected reports, 
the whole matter is simple and easily under- 
stood, and a large proportion of the criticisms 
in which the gentleman has so freely indulged 
is disposed of. 

RUIN OF PROPERTY-HOLDERS. 

After presenting this purely imaginative 
indictment against the board, the gentleman 
adds: 

" If this condition of things continues unchecked, 
it will eventuate in the ruin of the small property- 
holders in the District of Columbia, and the transfer 
of their possessions into the hands of four or five 
great holders, which great holders will all belong to 
the Board of Public Works." 

I have been frequently asked on this floor 
by members how our people were going to 
be able to pay their taxes and carry on this 
stupendous system of improvements, for they 
cannot see how such extensive work can go on 
without a large increase of the taxes. 

The fact is, Mr. Speaker, that the taxes to- 
day are no greater than they were before 
these improvements were begun, and they are 
ten cents on the dollar less than they were 
under one of the administrations immedi- 
ately preceding the present one. I declare 
this result to be one of the greatest financial 
achievements on record in municipal govern- 
ment. 



We now pay $1 70 on $100, over one tfM£of '/'/?/ 
which is school tax. Compare this with sonre 
other cities which I will name : 

New York pays , $2 27 

Rochester pays 6 70 

Troy pays 4 30 

Brooklyn pays 3 87 

Albany pays 4 57 

Cincinnati pays 3 19 

Philadelphia pays 2 05 

on the one hundred dollars. 

Besides it must be remembered that Con- 
gress has limited our tax to two dollars on the 
hundred, so that it is impossible for the Dis- 
trict legally to incur a debt which will make 
the tax higher than that amount. I venture 
to say that our taxes are less than in any city 
of the Union making any pretensions to thrift 
or enterprise. 

And furthermore, Mr. Speaker, it must be 
remembered that the United States own two 
fifths of all the taxable property in the city 
and pay no taxes upon their property, so that 
the burden of the improvements, except as 
appropriations maybe made here by Congress, 
falls really upon three fifths of the taxable 
property of the city. 

Gentlemen may answer that we have largely 
increased our assessments or our valuation of 
property. Let me tell them precisely what has 
been done. 

The taxable property of the District, real and 
personal, for 1871, was $86,103,260. This 
included $11,257,562 of personal property. 

The Legislature of the District abolished 
all tax upon personal property in 1872, and 
ordered a revaluation of the real estate, which 
resulted in showing a valuation of $85,960,863 ; 
so that our real estate was increased in value 
about the same amount of the reduction in 
personal property ; and no one familiar with 
the facts will question that the present assess- 
ment of real estate is below rather than above 
its true value. 

I desire to submit in this connection a let- 
ter from the superintendent of assessments 
and taxes of the District, together with a 
synopsis showing the amount of improvements 
made in the District during the past year: 

Office Superintendent 
of Assessments and Taxes, 
Washington, D. C, January 15, 1S73. 
General : I inclose copy of a report this day made 
to the Governor. This return shows the increase of 
new improvements made in the District unexampled 
in our history. 

The assessment on improvements for the fiscal 
year ending June 30, 1873, was $36,356,172. Thus you 



24 



will observe there is an increase in this class of 
investments amounting to over nine per cent., show- 
ing conclusively that the private citizens are vieing 
with the Government in advancing the material 
interests of our District. 

The assessment upon old improvements will be 
somewhat decreased, as nearly all that class of 
property loses something in value from age and use. 

The assessment upon the ground will not be en- 
tirely completed for some months. You will observe 



that we have reached the point where we can com- 
plete the assessment one year in advance of the 
collection of taxes, thus avoiding many of the diffi- 
culties attending this work under the old govern- 
ment, when the councils were forced to levy a tax, 
though ignorant of the amount of property assessed. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

H. A. HALL, 
Superintendent of Assessments and Taxes. 
Hon. N. P. Chipman, M. C. 



26 





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27 



By this it will be seen that while these im- 
provements were going on, and according to 
the gentleman's theory our people were being 
" threatened with ruin," they have made im- 
provements amounting to nearly three and a 
half million dollars in one year! 

CHARACTER OF PAVEMENTS. 

The gentleman next attacks the character 
of the pavements laid ia the city, denouncing 
them as worthless, and quoting in support of 
his denunciation from a report made by the 
present commissioner of public works in New 
York city, Mr. Van Nort. 

As I read the report of that gentleman, 
who is discussing wooden and concrete pave- 
ments as adapted to use in New York city, 
he does not pretend to condemn them gen- 
erally. Wooden pavements, he thinks, have 
not succeeded in the last ten years, but upon 
this subject experience proves the contrary, 
as can be seen in many of the cities of the 
Union. 

This subject was fully examined in the in- 
vestigation last winter to which I have re- 
ferred, and I invite attention particularly to 
page 557, testimony of Jonathan Taylor. 

As to concrete pavement, Mr. Van Nort 
says that he is informed that in many Euro- 
pean cities they are well thought of. This 
kind of pavement was also fully examined 
into last winter by one of the committees of 
this House ; and I invite attention to the re- 
port which was embodied in the testimony, 
page 746. It is an elaborate examination of 
the subject of concrete pavement, made by 
Mr. M. A. Kellogg, engineer in chief depart- 
ment of parks, New York; Mr. John Y. Cuy- 
ler, chief engineer Brooklyn park commis- 
sioner ; John D. Estabrook, principal assist- 
ant engineer Fairmount park, Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania ; A. B. Mullett, chief engineer 
Board of Public Works, District of Columbia ; 
S. P. Brown, of the Board of Public Works of 
the District of Columbia. The Committee for 
the District also reported upon these pave- 
ments favorably. 

I invite attention also to the fact that while 
Mr. Van Nort sets down the price of concrete 
pavement at $3 50 per yard in New York 
city, which does not include, as I am informed, 
the grading of the street, it is laid by the 
board here at §3 20, including two feet of 
grading. 



Mr. Van Nort puts the cost of wooden 
pavement in New York city at five dol- 
lars ; it is laid here with prepared wood, in- 
cluding the grading as before, for $3 50 per 
yard. 

Finally, Mr. Speaker, in refutation of the 
view presented by the gentleman from New 
York, I submit a report made by the advisory 
board composed of gentlemen eminent for 
scientific attainment as well as for their pub- 
lic and private character: 

Minutes of a meetiny of the advisory board of 
engineers, called loth May, 1872, at two o'clock p. 
JR., at office of Board of Public Works, by request 
of the Board of Public Works of the District of 
Columbia. 

Present: General J. K. Barnes, General 0. E. 
Babcock, General M. C. Meigs. 

The question submitted for opinion of the advis- 
ory board is, what preservative process shall the 
Board of Public Works adopt in its future use of 
wood pavement in the District of Columbia? 

The report of chemical investigation made by 
Doctors Tilden and Craig, of the Surgeon General's 
Office, of specimens of wood prepared by ssventeen 
different processes, was read; also, an independent 
report by Herman Haupt, civil engineer, on the 
same subject, published for the first time in the 
May number of the ;Eclectic Engineering Maga- 
zine for the present year. 

The opinion of the members present is, that of 
the processes examined, that of Seeley gives promise 
of best results. 

Upon inquiry as to relative cost of wood and of 
bituminous concrete pavements, as now lai'd in the 
city of Washington, the board was informed that 
the cost of prepared wood pavement is, per square 
yard, $3 50; of bituminousconcrete pavement, $3 20. 
The board recommends that bituminous concrete 
pavement be used — the pavements on Vermont 
avenue in front of the Arlington hotel, on Fifteenth 
street west, and Scott square, and on G street north, 
between Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets west, 
being made the standard, and that wood pavements 
be laid only where existing contracts, or some other 
exceptional reason, demands them. The bituminous 
concrete pavement gives promise of greater dura- 
bility, and it is much easier on horses, carriages, 
and riders. The board adjourned. 

M. C. MEIGS, 
J. K. BARNES. 
0. E. BABCOCK. 



True copy : 



M. C. MEIGS. 



Washington. May 21, 1872. 
I concur in the views and recommendations of the 
other members of the advisory board. 

A. A. HUMPHREYS. 

Board of Public Works, District of Columbia, 
Washington, January 31, 1873. 

I certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the 
original on file in this office. 

EDWARD JOHNSON, 
Chief Clerk Board of Public Works. 

STRUGGLES OF THE DISTRICT GOVERNMENT. 

Mr. Speaker, I must not conclude my re- 
marks without calling attention to some of the 
difficulties with which our District government 
has had to contend since its establishment. 
The organic act passed February 21, 1871. By 
its provisions the old government expired June 



28 



1, 1871. Early in March the officers appointed 
under the act qualified, and stepa were ^aken 
to convene the Legislature in order that pro- 
vision should be made against any interregnum 
iti our government. The election was held in 
May, when a Delegate to Congress was chosen 
and the members of the lower house of the 
Legislative Assembly. 

It had become generally known to the com- 
munity that the Board of Public Works con- 
templated extensive improvements, and their 
views were quite well understood and entered 
largely into the contest. The struggle was 
really then, as it has been since, between 
those in the District who prefer that we 
should not attempt any sudden change in our 
policy as to improvements, but rather that we 
should plod along in the old-fashioned way, and 
those more enterprising spirits who were de- 
termined that there should be a new departure 
with regard to beautifying and improving the 
city. The result was a majority of over four 
thousand on the general ticket, and the elec- 
tion of a large majority to the lower house in 
favor of improvements. 

The Board of Public Works were busy de- 
vising a plan of improvements, to aid them 
in which they invited an advisory board, com- 
posed of Generals Meigs, Humphreys, Barnes, 
Babcock, and Mr. Olrastead, of New York 
city, a gentleman prominent in the develop- 
ment of Central Park and the improvement 
of that city. 

The Legislature convened, and a plan of 
improvements approved generally by the ad- 
visory board was submitted, and the Governor 
in his message suggested a loan as the best 
and wisest means by which to carry out the 
plans of the board. At this point the Oppo- 
sition organized in every part of the city 
to defeat the legislation : but the law passed 
July 10, 1871, authorizing a loan of $4,000,000 
and the assessment against the property im- 
proved $2,000,000 moro. Failing to defeat the 
legislation, the Opposition then resorted to the 
courts, and by injunction prevented the pro- 
gress of improvements as provided for by act 
of July 10, making the point that the loan 
was illegal without the indorsement of the peo- 
ple. The injunction was granted by one of 
the judges of our court, and a delay ensued 
of some months before an appeal could be 
heard before the court in banc. The Legisla- 



ture then passed another act, August 19, 1871, 
submitting the question of the loan to the peo- 
ple. The Opposition hoping to defeat improve- 
ments before the people, opened a series of 
fierce and mendacious attacks, not only upon 
the wisdom of the improvements themselves, 
but upon the character, private and public, of 
the gentlemen composing our District govern- 
ment. Under the law it was not possible to 
take the vote sooner than in November fol- 
lowing ; thus postponing improvements for the 
summer, leaving the board only such work as 
could be done under direct appropriation of 
the Legislative Assembly necessarily limited 
in amount. 

When the question came to be voted upon 
by the people there were 14,760 votes in favor 
of the loan and 1,213 agaiust it. Having thus 
received an almost unanimous indorsement of 
their plans, the board commenced their im- 
provements, though late in the season, which 
were also further interrupted by an early winter. 
Immediately after the loan had been author- 
ized this same Opposition sought to destroy 
the credit of the District and prevent the 
negotiation of its bonds. The money markets 
of Europe, as well as the leading cities of our 
own country, were flooded with misrepresent- 
ations as to the character of the loan, denounc- 
ing it as illegal, and every possible impedi- 
ment was thrown in the way even after the 
people had declared that the improvements 
should go on and were willing that their bonds 
should be given to secure them. 

Congress met, and I believe on the first day 
a resolution was offered in the Senate, through 
the procurement of some of these factiouists, 
suspending the functions of our new govern- 
ment, thus striking a blow at its very exist- 
ence and utterly destroying its credit at home 
and abroad. The purpose of this faction was 
soon discovered by the Senator who offered 
that resolution, and it was withdrawn. About 
the same time, however, a memorial was offered 
in the House of Representatives, signed by a 
thousand citizens, many of whom afterward 
publicly declared that they had not read the 
memorial, and did not know what it contained. 
This memorial called upon Congress to make 
an investigation into the affairs of the District, 
and charged a reckless expenditure of public 
money, to the ruin of our people, and strongly 
insinuated fraud on the part of our public 



29 



officers. A protracted investigation ensued, 
out of which the District government emerged 
with a favorable report of the committee 
charged with the investigation. Congress, by 
making appropriations to pay for improve- 
ments done by the Board of Public Works 
around public property, vindicated the board 
upon the charges then made. 

At our election last fall the board was 
again put upon trial before the people, and the 
issue distinctly made against them personally 
as public officers, and agaiust their plan of 
improvements. The result was that out of 
twenty- two members elected to the lower 
House, nineteen were elected as avowed friends 
of the board and the improvements as made 
by them, while, I believe, no one of the other 
three was chosen on a distinct platform in 
opposition to improvements. The general 
ticket received a majority of over five thou- 
sand. It will thus be seen that whenever the 
question of improvement has been brought 
before the people the Board of Public Works 
have been sustained by an increasing majority. 

During the fall, and since the board began 
to issue its certificates of assessment against 
property improved, this same Opposition 
rallied again. Being overthrown by the votes 
of the people, they resorted to the courts by 
injunction, to prevent the issue of the cer- 
tificates of assessment. The board was sus- 
tained by the court, and the right to issue 
certificates, as well as their validity, was estab- 
lished. But here again, as formerly, the law's 
delay embarrassed the board financially, and 
the District to-day, by reason of this persistent 
and almost criminal opposition, is the loser 
to the extent of nearly $1,000,000. 

It would be impossible for me to convey to 
the House an adequate idea of the vicissitudes 
that have attended the District government 
since its formation. The spirit with which 
some of the members of the board have been 
pursued has been almost fiendish. At one 
time the Opposition paper of this city, affect- 
ing great influence and greater respectability, 
counseled the people to take the law in their 
hands and dethrone what it termed this board 
of public plunderers; and on more than one 
occasion intimating that at least one member 
of this board was guilty of such crime as 
would warrant a mob in hanging him at sight 
to the nearest lamp-post. 



Mr. Speaker, if all the imps of darkness 
had devoted their sole time to the work of 
obstructing the success of this new District 
government since its organization, they could 
not have made a more diabolical resistance 
than has been made by the combination — I 
may say conspiracy — that was formed to break 
it down. Every instrumentality, noble and 
ignoble ; every name, good and bad ; every 
influence, false and true; every person, with 
or without character, who could be misled, 
cajoled, or bought, to oppose us, has beeti 
brought into service. 

But amid all this clamor and abuse the 
District government has moved steadily along ; 
and, with the exception of the financial embar- 
rassment, caused as I have shown, which can 
hardly be estimated, aud infinite vexation, 
trouble, and delay upon the members of the 
government, all efforts in opposition have 
fallen as harmless as the gentleman's speech, 
which I have reviewed. 

I trust that members of this House, when 
they look about them, and witness the trans- 
formation, everywhere visible, from the old to 
the new, will remember some of the tribula- 
tions through which those gentlemen have 
passed, to whom, of all others, our people and 
the nation are most indebted. 

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I have only 
this to say : that the gentleman from New 
York, consciously or unconsciously, in his 
speech, which I am about to dismiss, has, as I 
hope, uttered the last wail of that illiberal and 
senseless spirit which has brought only mis- 
chief to our people. 

I have no doubt that the gentleman weighed 
well the result of his action, and came delib- 
erately to the conclusion that, whatever effect 
his course might have upon the interests of 
the District of Columbia, personally he would 
gain with his constituents. 

I think the gentleman has made a mistake. 
I do not think he can afford to rest his repu- 
tation upon such an effort in such a cause. 

He is about to leave us. The House of 
Representatives that kuows him now will soon 
know him no more forever. 

He will be remembered at the nation's 
capital as having achieved the doubtful dis- 
tinction of friend and counselor to the most 
uncanny lot of chronic grumblers, fogies, and 
characterless people that ever hung upon the 



30 



skirts of enterprise or laid in wait to retard 
the progress of a community. 

When this grateful nation shall erect a slab 
to his memory in that sanctified spot on the 
Anacostia river known as the Congressional 
Burying Ground, I pray that the remains of 



his confidante and admirer, John H. Crane, 
may be deposited under the stone, and that 
on the slab there be inscribed : 

Par nobile fratrum. 

In life they were one ; 
In death they may not be parted. 



District Affairs. 



SPEECH 



EION. NORTON P. CHIPMAN, 



DISTRICT COLUMBIA, 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEBRUARY 11, 1873. 



The House having under consideration the bill 
(II. E. No. 3S50) making appropriations for the sup- 
port of the Army for the year ending June 30, 1874 — 

Mr. Roosevelt addressed the House in 
reply to Mr. Chipman's remarks of February 5. 

Mr. CHIPMAN said: 

Mr. Chairman : I shall endeavor to detain 
the House but a very few minutes. It is not my 
purpose to occupy the half hour which 1 have 
been accorded by the gentleman from Pennsyl- 
vania in charge of this bill. 1 shall only follow 
the gentleman from New York [Mr. Roose 
veltJ in the statements I regard as essential to 
l »e traversed, and leave his speech and my own, 
recently made, which fully covered the whole 
subject, to take their own course and meet 
their own results as to charge and refutation. 

1 do not admit that the gentleman from New 
York comes here with such clean hands that he 
is entitled to set up a standard of moral conduct 
in the District c*f Columbia. No man shall cry 
nut in Washington, " Tammany No. 2," while 
holding a certificate of office given him by the 
decree of "Tammany No. 1'' — a man so 
shameless that he has the audacity to admit 
that he was not elected by the votes of the 
people in his district, but. was counted in by 
a, power which he then had neither the virtue 
nor courage to resist. Is it not, Mr. Chairman, 
Satan rebuking sin to. witness this exhibition 
of the gemlems*n ? 

Now, Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from 
New York assails in a brutal manner the per- 
sonal character of men in this District who 
are his peers. The particular officer whom he 
singles out has. struggled here in this com- 
munity from childhood ; he is known to thou 
sands, and he sttands here with as good a char- 
acter, in ali those qualities which make up 
manhood, as that of any man upon this floor. 
He is self-made, it is true, but he is one of 



those men for whom nature has done more 
than wealth, blood, or any other influence can 
do for some men I might mention. This man 
with his associates is now attempting to make 
Washington city something that it has not been 
in the years that are past — a fit residence for 
the capital of a great people. But, sir, these 
gentlemen have been pursued at every step : 
and it seems now that there is an avenue — I 
will not say a sewer — that there is an avenue 
in this House, through which the combined 
influences of the Opposition, their slanders. 
their misrepresentations, their insane hostility 
to everything which tends to the good of the 
District, may be poured in here, and be em- 
ployed to defeat what, I regard as the patriotic 
efforts of these public officers. 

The gentleman from New York speaks of 
fraud and misrepresentation, and says that 
these officers are attempting to deceive this 
House. He has not. pointed out one single 
instance where that has been done. Look 
at the report which the Board of Public 
Works has made. Take their report, exam- 
ine it, and let the board stand or fall with 
it. Take '.hat portion which the gentleman 
criticises so severely, that which gives the 
estimates of the contracts which were made 
for the purpose of carrying out these improve- 
ments, and 1 declare that no man not, absolutely 
blind with hatred and prejudice will fail to see 
the refutation of the gentleman's charges. Let 
me remind the House that the real question in 
that connection is this : did the Board of Public 
Works represent to Congress substantially the 
amount of their indebtedness or of their liabil- 
ities? Thisis notanewquestion. Thegentie- 
man discussed it a fortnight ago, and I followed 
him as soon as opportunity offered, and I ciU 
attention now to the fact that the gentleman 
fails to explain moiv than half a score of mis- 
representations in his speech which I exposed. 



I assume that he cannot explain, and I shall 
not repeat the argument. 

Now, sir, I allege that the Board of Public 
Works have represented their indebtedness 
truthfully, or within a very few thousand dol- 
lars, which is as near as estimates can be 
made involving millions of dollars' worth of 
work; and yet the gentleman would have you 
believe that instead of the liabilities incurred 
by the board amounting to something over 
$6,000,000, they amount to $13,000,000. 
Somebody has told a great untruth in refer- 
ence to this matter. Mr. Chairman, my posi- 
tions do not rest upon my own examination. 
A committee of this House has told you pre- 
cisely what I tell you, and I have yet to learn 
that the House distrusts the integrity of that 
committee. 

The gentleman from New York is a mem- 
ber of that committee. Upon his own motion 
and on his own resolution the Committee for 
the District of Columbia examined this very 
question, and instead of remaining here, as 
it was his duty to do if he intended really to 
unearth what he alleged to be frauds, the 
gentleman went off to New York city, and we 
hear no more of him in relation to this matter 
until he comes here to make an assault on 
the integrity of these gentlemen, and to show 
the House that it has committed itself to the 
payment of a large amount, of money upon an 
account which was a fraud upon the Govern- 
ment of the United States. Sir, when the 
gentleman next has an opportunity of exam- 
ining these matters let him not go off to New 
York city to engage in a vain attempt to organ- 
ize a " dispensary democracy" by dispensing 
with Democrats, and then come here and make 
what I may call a dispensary speech, dispens- 
ing entirely with facts. 

The gentleman first attempts to explain how 
he was betrayed into his blunders by using an 
advance proof copy of the report of the board, 
and he charges that there are no less than four 
different editions, and admits that the page he 
thought was suppressed turns up in another 
part of the later editions. 

Let me say one word here. The first dozen 
copies were struck off before the original proof- 
sheets had reached the proof-reader and were 
returned. The body of the report is not and 
has not been changed in any one material par- 
ticular, but the exhibits, which are numerous, 
were made up by clerks and carefully exam- 
ined and corrected for later editions, but not 
in the least changing totals or the text of 
the report, or any important fact of the re- 
port. The House must remember that in no 
matter referred to by the gentleman except the 
account rendered against the United States is 
the truth or falsehood of his statements im 
portant, and therefore the House could not 
have been misled. As to the account against 
the Government, I have fully refuted the 



gentleman in former remarks, but will notice 
it a moment. 

As to the gentleman's statement that he has 
again computed the tables which I recently 
showed to be correct in the report, and his 
further statement that his first estimate is the 
true one, I can only say that the gentleman 
and I cannot agree, and we must leave the 
House to judge which is right. 

Now, the gentleman, in taking up the re- 
marks I made in reply to him, and iu addition 
to the statement that this account has been 
paid by Congress under a misrepresentation, 
arraigns the engineer in charge of the public 
buildings and grounds, and he goes over the 
accounts and vouchers of General Babcock, 
and attempts to show that he has paid items 
which the board never charged, and other 
items in regard to which, in fact, the board 
had not done any work. In his former speech 
the gentleman said this account was paid to 
the last dollar and cent, and that the measure- 
ments agreed to a foot, and he thought it so 
strange as to warrant an insinuation of collu- 
sion and fraud. Let me tell the House the 
exact truth about it. I have here a copy of 
the deficiency bill to which this House gen- 
erously added over a million and a quarter 
dollars for the purpose of paying the amount 
rendered against the Government for work 
done in front of the property of the Govern- 
ment. I ask the Clerk to read from that bill. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

" District of Columbia : 
" To enable the Secretary of the Interior to pay the 
expenditures made by the Board of Public Works 
of the District of Columbia for paving roadway, and 
curbing and paving sidewalks, grading, sewerage, 
and other improvements upon and adjoining the 
property of the United States in the District of 
Columbia, $1, 241,920 92, or so much thereof as may 
be necessary: Provided, That all payments under 
this appropriation shall be made only upon vouchers 
approved by the officer in charge of the public build- 
ings and grounds of the District after full examina- 
tion and measurement of the said improvements, 
and the approval of the prices claimed therefor: 
And provided further, That the said Board of Public 
Works be, and they are hereby, prohibited from 
incurring or contracting further liabilities on behalf 
of the United States in the improvement of streets, 
avenues, and reservations beyond the amount of 
appropriations previously made by Congress, and 
from entering into any contract touching such im- 
provements on behalf of the United States except in 
pursuance of appropriations made by Congress." 

Mr. CHIPMAN. Mr. Chairman, the gen- 
tleman from New York charged distinctly in 
his former speech that upon an examination 
personally of the vouchers of General Babcock, 
to which he alluded here to-day, he had found 
that those vouchers agreed with the accounts 
laid before the Committee on Appropriations 
by the Board of Public Works, and he stated, 
as I have said, that it was a remarkable fact 
that in an account of over a million and a quar- 
ter of dollars, including probably one thousand 
items, the two should agree so exactly. Let 
me ask the gentleman how that charge agrees 



with the one he to-day makes that the vouchers 
of General Babcock and the accounts of the 
board disagree in almost every particular? He 
must have been wrong first if he is right now. 
But I say he was wrong first, and is avoiding 
the truth now. I admit, Mr. Chairman, if what 
ihe gentleman first charged were the case it 
would be remarkable, but unfortunately it is 
not true. If the gentleman had examined 
the very first item in this account he would 
have seen that General Babcock strikes off an 
item of $4,000; and yet the gentleman came 
here and charged that every item and every 
cent had been paid. Sir, I say that the maxim 
will apply here in discussing a question of this 
kind, falsum in uno, falsum in omnibus. If 
true as to witnesses, why is it not true in regard 
to discussions here? 

Now, the fact is that the account of the 
board embraced items amounting to over a 
million and a quarter of dollars ; but General 
Babcock reports that the accounts amounted to 
$81,204 83 more than the board had reported, 
yet the very object of the gentleman's first 
speech was, as well as this attack to-day is, to 
show to the House that the board, in fact, had 
done less work than they charged the Govern- 
ment for. The answer I have given is not 
only conclusive of the gentleman's error, but 
it ought to shame him into a public acknowl- 
edgment ; yet with blind rage he reiterates 
fraud on the part of the board and culpable 
mistakes on the part of the officer who certi- 
fied to the voucher. 

Let me explain in a word more that when 
General Babcock came to examine the account 
o£ the board he struck out all the items in 
regard to which he and the board disagreed to 
such an extent that the board were unwilling 
to allow the accounts to be settled, and he 
allowed others where work was done and not 
stated in the account, and yet with all the care 
that was taken he found that the Government 
was indebted over $81,000 more than the board 
had reported. Why, then, all this excited 
declamation of the gentlemen when the facts are 
known, as he must at this moment know them? 

The gentleman says General Babcock had 
no authority to use a discretion. In reply I 
make this point, that under the appropriation 
which this Congress made, the language of 
which I have read, it was competent for Gen- 
eral Babcock to pay to the full amount of the 
appropriation so long as he kept within its 
terms, even though the exact account rendered 
by the board was not audited and paid by him. 
Congress did not know the account as an ac- 
count; it only knew the amount in round 
numbers, and provided not for a particular 
account, but for the cost of the work whatever 
it might be. 

This, Mr. Chairman, is my answer to the 
speech of the gentleman. He makes no new 
charges, and I say he does not explain the 



equivocal position in which his first speech 
placed him. I stand upon the computation 
and the facts already submitted by me to the 
House, and I challenge refutation of them. I 
am sustained by the reports of a committee of 
this House and by what I believe to be the 
truth in this whole matter. The gentleman's 
quarrel with the vice president of the board it 
is not my province to espouse. That officer 
is abundantly able to take care of himself. 

And now, Mr. Chairman, I had hoped we 
were through with this opposition. Whenever 
it shall be demonstrated by the gentleman 
from New -York, [Mr. Roosevelt,] or by any 
other member or by any other person, be he 
a member of Congress or one of my own con- 
stituents, that this Board of Public Works are 
a second Tammany in a worse form than the 
very bad first Tammany, as the gentleman 
charges, I shall not be the last one to de- 
nounce them on this floor. I have gone before 
this people over and over again upon the very 
question the gentleman has raised before the 
House, and every time the people have in- 
dorsed the Board of Public Works and their 
efforts to build up the national capital 

But so long as these charges are utterly des- 
titute of truth, as I believe them to be, and 
are made only by a few disappointed and dis- 
reputable characters whom the respectable 
people of the District who oppose the board 
repudiate as common enemies to our best in- 
terests, so long, Mr. Chairman, as this is true 
I shall defend this board. 

It is a shame that these creatures should be 
permitted to come here to defeat just appro- 
priations; it is a shame that they are allowed 
to dog the steps of Congressmen and pretend 
to respectability because there are some decent 
men in the city who do not sustain the board" 
These creatures would see the capital sink 
before they would permit the board to succeed, 
if they could prevent it ; and yet they find 
audience and they have a champion on this 
floor. The gentleman comes here now to eulo- 
gize the character of one of these men and 
thank him for turning spy and informer against 
the people of the District. I shall not call in 
question the gentleman's companionship. He 
may select his own associates ; but he cannot 
convince this country that an infatuated mono- 
maniac, an utterly unscrupulous wretch who 
pursues this District government with the ma- 
levolence of a hyena, is a fit man to give the 
gentleman information to guide this House. 
I make no attack on this man, but I warn the 
House against the source of the gentleman's 
so-called facts. 

Sir, it is painful to me that this attack and 
this effort to stifle improvements here come 
from a gentleman who lives in the greatest 
city of this continent, with its noble park 
and its splendid improvements, and with 
its ambition to overtop the cities of the Old 



World in all that makes a city great. It pains 
me that such a gentleman should stand out 
alone in an attack upon the Board of Public 
Works and their effort to build up your capital. 
But this experience is not new to us. When 
gentlemen of the House look about them and 
see what we Have accomplished in this city, let 
them remember that every step that has been 
taken has been through fire. We have been 
attached openly and anonymously. Even 
yesierday, when it was hoped to pass a resolu- 
tion of instruction to the Committee on Ap- 
propriations asking them to inquire as to the 
duty of the Government toward its capital, 
this House. was flooded with an anonymous 
circular attacking me personally and the 
Board of Public Works. I had a copy handed 
to me by a gentleman on the other side of the 
House, who said that the gentleman from 
New York [Mr. Roosevelt] handed it to 
him, and was circulating it among members 
generally. I hope I may be mistaken in that, 
but I fear that I am not. Is this a specimen 
of the gentleman's morals? Is a public report 
of United States officers to be libeled out of 
court, and this stuff to be taken as the guide 
of the House? Verily, then — 

"0 Judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, 
And men have lost their reason." 

This, Mr. Chairman, is the character of the 
opposition which we have met everywhere. 
Yesterday I found here this large paper, [hold- 



ing a large yellow-colored poster in his hand.] 
which reminds one of the posters that may be 
seen at the cross-roads, surmounted by ahorse 
rampant, and which was circulated here by 
the gentleman in order to prejudice this House 
against doing an act of simple justice, that of 
directing an inquiry through a proper commit- 
tee as to whether this Government ought to do 
anything toward building up the capital. 

The gentleman cries " Tammany number 
two," " fraud," " corruption," "misrepresent- 
ation." Let it be Tammany number two. 
It never will send a Delegate who will come 
here and turn and rend it without cause. I 
believe there is no substantial averment made 
by the gentleman that has not been fully an- 
swered. I cannot anticipate what the gentle- 
man will print in the balance of his speech, 
and I reserve the right to answer charges not 
made on the floor. I will not take up the time 
of the House in merely gratifying myself by 
further remarks. Examine the records of 
this District for yourselves. Do not rely upon 
the gentleman's statements or my own. 

This Congress has shown a patriotic interest 
in the capital. I cannot believe that the fire 
and fury of one or a half a dozen speeches 
which the gentleman or any one else shall 
make can extinguish the public sentiment that 
demands of the people's Representatives to 
make the people's capital the greatest of the 
world. 



Printed at the OHco of the ■Congressional Globe. 



Washington Monument. 



SPEECH 

OF 

HON. NORTON P. CHIPMAN, 

OF DISTRICT COLUMBIA., 

IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, FEBRUARY IS, 1873, 
On the hill making an appropriation to complete the Washington monument. 



Mr. CHIPMAN. Mr. Speaker, feeling a 
deep interest in the completion of the Wash- 
ington monument, and believing it to be my 
duty as an American citizen cherishing grate- 
fully the memory of Washington, I introduced 
at the second session of this Congress a bill 
making an appropriation looking to the com- 
pletion of the monument. 

The bill was referred to the Committee for the 
District of Columbia, and by Report No. 48 
of the second session of this Congress, this 
committee presented to the House the facts 
which it regarded as necessary to enable Con- 
gress to act intelligently in the matter, and 
recommended the appropriation. That docu- 
ment is somewhat lengthy, and contains im- 
portant facts in such form as to make it diffi- 
cult to ascertain the information desirable. My 
object, then, in addressing the House at this 
time is not so much for the purpose of arous- 
ing torpid patriotism, or to indulge in any 
panegyric upon the life and character of the 
Father of his Country, as it is to collate and 
arrange such facts as I think members would 
be glad to know preparatory to voting upon a 
proposition appropriating money for the pur- 
pose indicated. As a further stimulus of this 
subject, I recently introduced aresolution, upon 
which the House directed a select committee 
of thirteen, to be appointed with leave to report 
at any time, by bill or otherwise, and setting 
apart the afternoon of February 22 to consider 
the report. It is also for the purpose of aid- 
ing the consideration of that report that I sub- 
mit these remarks atthis time ; but as a mem- 
ber of that committee it would manifestly be 
improper for me to express any views in ad- 
vance of their report looking to a plan for 
completing the monument. 



ORIGIN OF THE 



WASHINGTON 
CIATION. 



MONUMENTAL ASSO- 



At the close of the revolutionary war the 
Continental Congress, on the 7th of August, 
1783, resolved unanimously, " that an eques- 
trian statue of General Washington be erected 
at the place where the residence of Congress 
shall be established ;" and it was directed that 
the statue should be supported by a marble 
pedestal, on which should be represented four 
principal events of the revolutionary war in 
which Washington commanded in person. On 
the pedestal were to be engraved the following 
words: 

" The United States, in Congress assembled, or- 
dered this statue to be erected in the year of our 
Lord 1783, in honor of George Washington, the illus- 
trious Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the 
United States of America during the war which vin- 
dicated and secured their liberty, sovereignty, and 
independence." 

Washington had at this time endeared 
himself to the American people as the great 
revolutionary leader in their struggle for lib- 
erty. As a civil ruler he was yet unknown. 
The extraordinary powers conferred upon 
him as the leader of the armies proved to be 
equally safe in his hands in the management 
of civil government, and it was as the Presi- 
dent of the United States that he earned his 
proudest title to the gratitude of his country. 
At his death a joint committee of both Houses 
of Congress was appointed to consider a suit- 
able manner of paying honor to his memory. 
It was resolved, among other things, by Con- 
gress, December 24th, 1799: 

"That a marble monument be erected by the 
United States at the city of Washington, and that 
the family of General Washington be requested to 
permit his body to be deposited under it ; and that 
the monument be so designed as to commemorate 
the great events of his military and political life." 



seeing it. The proposed Washington mon- 
ument has suffered much from this kind 
of criticism. When a great editor, like the 
one who has recently died in this country, 
declares to the immense audience which he 
obtained through his great paper, that the 
proposed Washington monument, when com- 
pleted, will resemble " a pumpkin with a stick 
stuck in it," he unconsciously aroused not 
only a feeling of distrust in the minds of the 
public as to the plan of the monument, but he 
created a sentiment of absolute contempt for 
it, and it has been this flippant sort of criti- 
cism which has done more than all other things 
to deaden into insensilitity the patriotism of 
the public which was expressing itself from 
every quarter of the country by liberal dona- 
tions at the time the monument was begun. 

Now, Mr. Speaker, these criticisms have 
been based chiefly upon the supposed appear- 
ance of the obelisk with the proposed pantheon 
or base surrounding it. So far as this feature 
of the monument is concerned, it is not de- 
termined upon, and has only been made as a 
suggestion, and was embodied in the early pic- 
tures representing the monument. The only 
thing determined upon by the association which 
should not be changed, is the shaft. That 
members may see precisely what the design 
of this monument is, I will read the descrip- 
tion of it as originally prepared : 

"The design embraces the idea of a grand circular 
colonnaded building, two hundred and fifty feet in 
diameter, and one hundred feet high, from which 
springs an obelisk shaft seventy feet at the base and 
five hundred feet high; this will be constructed 
first. 

"The vast rotunda, forming the grand base of the 
monument, is surrounded by thirty columns of mas- 
sive proportions, being twelve feet in diameter and 
forty-five feet high, elevated upon a lofty base or 
stylobate of twenty feet elevation and three hun- 
dred feet square, surmounted by an entablature 
twenty feet high, and crowned by a massive balus- 
trade fifteen feet in height. 

"The terrace outside of the colonnade is twenty- 
five feet wide, and the pronaos or walk within the 
colonnade, including the column space, twenty-five 
feet. The walks inclosing the cella, or gallery 
within, are fretted with thirty massive antic (pilas- 
ters) ten feet wide, forty-five feet high, and seven 
and a half feet projection, answering to the columns 
in front, surmounted by their appropriate archi- 
trave. The deep recesses formed by the projection 
of the antte provide suitable niches for the reception 
of statues. 

" A tetrastyle portico, (four columns in front,) in 
triple rows of the same proportions and order with 
the columns of the colonnade, distinguishes the 
entrance to the monument, and serves as a pedestal 
for the triumphal car and statue of the illustrious 
chief; the steps to this portico are flanked by mass- 
ive blockings, surmounted by appropriate figures 
and trophies. 

" Over each column, in the great frieze of the entab- 
latures, around the entire building, are sculptured 
escutcheons, (coats of arms of each State in the 
Union,) surrounded by bronze civic wreaths, banded 
together by festoons of oak leaves, &c, all of which 
spring (each way) from the center of the portico, 
where the coat of arms of the United States is 
emblazoned. 

"The statues surrounding the rotunda outside, 
under the colonnade, are all elevated upon pedestals. 



and will be those of the glorious signers of the 
Declaration of Independence. 

"Ascending the portico outside to the terracelevel, 
a lofty vomitoria, (doorway,) thirty feet high, leads 
into the cella, (rotunda gallery,) fifty feet wide, five 
hundred feet in circumference, and sixty-eight feet 
high, with a colossal pillar in the center seventy 
feet in diameter, around which the gallery sweeps. 
This pillar forms the foundation of the obelisk 
column above. 

" Both sides of the gallery are divided into spaces 
by pilasters, elevated on a continued zocle or base 
five feet high, forming an order, with its entablature, 
forty feet high, crowned by a vaulted ceiling twenty 
feet, high, divided by radiating archevaults, corres- 
ponding with the relative positions of the opposing 
pilasters, and inclosing deep sunken coffers enriched 
with paintings. 

"The spaces between the pilasters are sunk into 
niches for the reception of the statues of the fathers 
of the Revolution, contemporary with the immortal 
Washington ; over which are large tablets to receive 
the national paintings commemorative of the battle 
and other scenes of that memorable period. Oppo- 
site to the entrance of this gallery, at the extremity 
of the great circular wall, is the grand niche for 
the reception of the statue of the 'Father of his 
Country,' elevated on its appropriate pedestal, and 
designated as principal in the group by its colossal 
proportions. 

" This spacious gallery and rotunda, which properly 
may be denominated the 'national pantheon,' is 
lighted in four grand divisions from above, and, by 
its circular form, presents each subject decorating 
its walls in an interesting point of view, and with 
proper effect, as the curiosity is kept up every mo- 
ment, from the whole room not beiug presented to 
the eye at one glance, as in the case of a straight 
gallery. 

"Entering the center pier through an arched way, 
you pass into a spacious circular area, and ascend 
with an easy grade, by a railway, to the grand ter- 
race, seventy-five feet above the base of the monu- 
ment. This terrace is seven hundred feet in circum- 
ference, one hundred and eighty feet wide, inclosed 
by a colonnaded balustrade fifteen feet high, with its 
base and capping. The circuit of this grand terrace 
is studded with small temple-formed structures, con- 
stituting the cupolas of the lanterns, lighting the 
pantheon gallery below ; by means of these little 
temples, from a gallery within, 3 bird's-eye view is 
had of the statues, &c, below. 

"Through the base of the great circle of the balus- 
trade are four apertures at the four cardinal points, 
leading outside of the balustrade, upon the top of 
the main cornice, where a gallery six feet wide and 
seven hundred and fifty feet in circumference en- 
circles the whole, inclosed by an ornamental guard, 
forming the crowning member on the top of the 
thdlus of the main cornice of the grand colonnade. 
Within the thickness of this wall staircases descend 
to a lower gallery over the plafond of the pronaos 
of the colonnade, lighted from above. This gallery, 
which extends all round the colonnade, is twenty feet 
wide, divided into rooms for the records of the monu- 
ment, works of art, or studios for artists engaged in 
the service of the monument. Two other ways com- 
municate with this gallery from below. 

"In the center of the grand terrace, above de- 
scribed, rises the lofty obelisk shaft of the monu- 
ment, seventy feet square at the base, and five hun- 
dred feet high, diminishing as it rises to its apex, 
where it is forty feet square; at the foot of this shaft, 
and on each face, projectfour massive zocles, twenty- 
five feet high, supporting so many colossal symbolic 
tripods of victory, twenty feet high, surmounted by 
facial columns with their symbols of authority. 
These zocle faces are embellished with inscriptions, 
which are continued around the entire base of the 
shaft, and occupy the surface of that part of the 
shaft between the tripods. On each face of the shaft 
above this is sculptured the four leading events in 
General Washington's eventful career in haaso re- 
tievo,\\m\ above this the shaft is perfectly plain to 
within fifty feet of its summit, where a simple star 



is placed, embl ematic of the glory which the name 
of Washington has attained. 

"To ascend to the summitof thecolumn, the same 
facilities as below sire provided within the shaft by 
an easy-graded gallery, which may be traversed by 
a railway, terminating in a circular observatory, 
twenty feet in diameter, around which at the top is 
a lookout gallery, which opens a prospect all aronnd 
the horizon. 

" With reference to the area embraced by the 
foundations and basement of the monument, and 
the uses to which they may be applied, the under- 
space outward, occupied by the lower terrace and 
colonnade, may be appropriated to the accommoda- 
tion of the keepers of the monument, or those having 
charge of it and attending on visitors. 

"These apartments, which are arched, are well 
lighted and aired, as they are all above ground, the 
light being disposed in the sunk panels of the 
stylobate, (base.) The principal entrance to all 
these apartments will be from the rear, or opposite 
side of the portico entrance. The inner space, or 
that under the grand gallery or rotunda, may be 
appropriated to catacombs for the reception of the 
remains of such distinguished men as the nation 
may honor with interment here. This subterranean 
gallery is so large and lofty that it would accom- 
modate many catacombs. 

"In the center of the monument is placed the 
tomb of Washington, to receive his remains, should 
they be removed thither: the descent to which is 
by a broad flight of steps lighted by the same light 
which illumines his statue." 

Any one capable of forming a picture of this 
description in his mind must admit that the 
design is of unparalleled beauty. There is 
nothing in the world comparable to it in elabo- 
rateness, richness, and massiveness. But the 
pantheon is not necessary to the completion 
of the obelisk, and is furthermore subject to 
almost infinite variety of finish, or may be 
omitted altogether. 

SECURITY OP FOUNDATIONS. 

The popular error to-day in relation to the 
security of the foundation to the monument 
should be removed. When this question of 
the insecurity of the foundation of the monu- 
ment and the impracticability of the height 
of the structure was first raised, Lieutenant 
I. C. Ives, of the topographical engineers, 
made an examination of the matter, and sub- 
mitted a report, which I think of sufficient 
importance to read from at some length. He 
Says : 

"Before the monument was commenced the 
strength of the material of which the obelisk was 
to be composed was thoroughly tested. The results 
are on record in the office of the society. It is known 
that the marble was found to be able to bear without 
crushing a pressure more than fifteen times greater 
than it would be subjected to in any part of its 
structure. Marble from the same quarry that has 
hitherto supplied material for the monument can be 
readily procured in sufficient quantity for the com- 
pletion of the work, so that no further experiments 
in regard to this point appear necessary. 

" A few of the blocks of the lowest courses have 
slightly chipped at the edges, owing to the joints 
having been laid rather closely. These courses, 
however, will be covered by the base. 

"To those who are aware of the care which was 
taken in laying the foundation of the monument, 
both in the selection and preparation of the bed, 
and in the execution of the masonry work, it will 
be scarcely necessary to enter into any statements 
in regard to its present condition. The test to which 
it has been already subjected may, however, be 



mentioned. If raised to the height of six hundred 
feet, the weight of the shaft, together with the 
foundation, will be a little more than seventy thou- 
sand tons. The weight of the portion now built is 
more than forty thousand tons. For five years 
therefore, during which the work has been sus- 
pended, the foundation has been bearing about 
four sevenths of the pressure that it will ultimately 
be required to sustain, and in a recent examina- 
tion I was unable to detect any appearance of 
settling or indication of insecurity. 

"As the question has been raised, whether the 
height of six hundred feet can be attained without 
endangering the stability of the obelisk, a compu- 
tation is herewith subjoined, from which it would 
appear that, without taking into consideration the 
adhesion of the mortar, the weight alone of the 
structure would offer a resistance nearly eight times 
greater than the overturning effort of the heaviest 
tempest to which it would probably ever be ex- 
posed. The pressure due to the force of the wind is 
taken at live hundred and seven pounds per super- 
ficial yard. This pressure, according to Mr. Fresnel, 
corresponds to a velocity that ' exceeds by one ninth 
the velocity of the greatest storms mentioned in the 
annual of the bureau of longitude.' 

" In regard to the oscillations experienced in high 
towers during violent storms, it is stated by Mr. 
Fresnel, one of the most eminent French engineers, 
that ' all well observed facts appear to demonstrate 
that the oscillations impressed by tempests on ma- 
sonary towers cannot injure those edifices if they 
are properly built, unless they are wanting in sta- 
bility; that is, unless they could be overturned in 
mass by the effort of the wind.' 

"The dimensions of the obelisk are: height, six 
hundred feet; breadth at base, fifty-five feet; at 
top, thirty feet. The area of one of the faces, 2,833? 
yards multiplied by 507 pounds, and this product by 
the semi-height of the obelisk, will give the moment 
of the effort of the wind: 430,000,000 pounds. 

"The average weight of the masonry may be 
taken at 170 pounds per cubic foot. The well of the 
monument is twenty-five feet square; and the weight 
of the whole shaft 125,800,000 pounds, which, multi- 
plied by twenty -six feet (the edge of rotation being 
assumed eighteen inches within the exterior surface, 
and the lever arm of the resistance consequently 
eighteen inches less than the semi-breadth of the 
base,) will give the moment of the resistance, 
3,270,800,000 pounds. 

"True copy from the minutes: 

JOHN CARROLL BRENT. 
Secretary." 

This same question had been previously in- 
quired into by the select committee of the 
blouse of Representatives, and they reported 
in February, 1855, report No. 94, Thirty-Sec- 
ond Congress, second session, "that its found- 
ations are deeply, broadly, and securely laid, 
and are sufficient to support the entire super- 
structure.-!' The committee also reported 
that they highly approve of the design, and 
said, "it is a noble monument, altogether 
worthy the sublime character of which it is to 
be a testimonial. The work, so far as it has 
been performed, has been faithfully done. It 
appears to be plain and yet beautiful, and your 
committee are satisfied it will be enduring." 

LAYING CORNER-STONE, AND PROGRESS OF THE WORK. 

On the 4th of July, 1848, the corner-stone 
of this monument was laid, in the presence of 
the President, Vice Presideut, and of Sena- 
tors, Representatives, heads of Departments, 
the judiciary, the corporate authorities of 
Washington and Georgetown and Alexandria, 
and delegations from all quarters of the Union. 



6 



Robert C. Winthrop, then Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, delivered an ora- 
tion. The work was commenced, and in about 
six years the obelisk had reached the height 
of one hundred and seven feet, exhausting the 
funds of the society, amounting to $230,000. 

In 1854 the board of managers memorialized 
Congress for aid, stating that their efforts to 
obtain further means had proved abortive. 
The House of Representatives referred this 
memorial to a select committee of thirteen 
members, of which Henry May, of Maryland, 
was chairman. On the2'2d of February, 1855, 
Mr. May made a report, approving the pro- 
ceedings of the society and recommending 
an appropriation of $200,000 by Congress 
"on behalf of the people of the United 
States, to aid the funds of the society." 

In an appeal made by the association to the 
country, I find that the failure of the appro- 
priations recommended at this time, was the 
result of an unfortunate misunderstanding in 
the society. 

Nothing appears to have been done further 
until the 22d of February, 1859, Congress 
incorporated a society " for the purpose of 
completing the erection, now in progress, of 
a great national monument to the memory of 
Washington, at the city of Washington." 
Upon the advent of this new corporation, as 
the successors of the voluntary society first 
formed, it was found that during the previous 
four years there had been but two courses of 
marble of eight feet each added to the monu- 
ment, leaving its height then, in 1859, one hun- 
dred and seventy four feet. The new corpora- 
tion commenced its operations, and began to 
lay its plans for raising funds, but before any- 
thing of much importance was accomplished, 
the rebellion began and interrupted their fur- 
ther progress. Since the war the society has 
been fruitlessly endeavoring to obtain further 
action on the part of Congress, and have also 
invoked the aid ' ' of State and territorial Legis- 
latures, of political, corporate, or voluntary 
bodies, and also of all societies, associations, 
and persons of all denominations, faith, and 
creed." 

KESOUECES, ASSETS, AND EXPENSES. 

In 1859 the Legislature o! California appro- 
priated $1,000 annually in aid of the mon- 
ument, but no part of it has yet been realized. 
The citizens of the State, however, generously 
contributed at the polls, at the annual election 
in 1860, $10,962, which were paid to the so- 
ciety. In April, 1871, the Legislature of New 
York passed an act appropriating $10,000 
"as the contribution of the State of New 
York to the treasurer of the Washington Na- 
tional Monument Society, whenever the Gov- 
ernor should certify a sufficient sum has been 
subscribed from other sources to enable the 
society to resume its work, with a reasonable 
prospect of completing the obelisk or shaft." 



As this assurance cannot be given the Gov- 
ernor, this appropriation cannot be realized at 
present. 

In a letter addressed to me January 22, 
1872, and printed in the appendix to the re- 
port already referred to, the secretary of the 
society, Mr. John Carroll Brent, says : 

"The work having ceased in 1855, nothing has been 
done since, of any importance, by this society toward 
the completion of the monument. The only expenses 
and expenditures since, have been $1 50 per diem for 
watchman at Monument place, a messenger for 
society office, at four dollar per month, and neces- 
sary fuel and stationery for use of office, and repairs 
on lapidarium, &c. 

" The sum of $11,005 has been invested by the 
Treasurer in United States and corporation of VVash- 
ington bonds and stock, and there is a balance of 
cash on hand of about $1,500. The only receipts for 
years past have been fromboxes at Smithsonian and 
Patent Office and contributions from visitors at 
Monument place, on an average about $500 per 
annum, and twenty dollars yearly for rent of lot. 
These, added to the interest on the securities above 
mentioned, make up the resources and asssets of the 
society." 

Appended to the report made by the Com- 
mittee for the District of Columbia at the 
last session will be found, in exhibit C, a com- 
plete financial statement of receipts and dis- 
bursements since the organization of the 
society. An examination of this, together 
with the fact as stated by Mr. Brent in the 
letter to which I have referred, clears away all 
doubt as to the financial management of the 
society. The charge has sometimes been 
made that the collections are now quite large 
annually, and that they are being disbursed in 
the payment of sinecures, but it will be seen 
that the charge is without foundation. The 
society has but about $13,000, over $11,000 
of which are invested in interest-paying securi- 
ties. Upon this subject, I beg to read from 
the report of the select committee of thirteen, 
made to the House in 1855, as follows: 

" The funds were to be collected in all parts of the 
United States, and agents, as competent and as 
faithful as could be found, were appointed, after 
giving bond for the performance of their duties. 

" These agents were sentto all parts of the country, 
and contributions were commenced and continued 
by the subscription of one dollar for each person. 
This plan was adopted in order that all might have 
the opportunity to contribute. 

"In the appointment of these agents a careful 
scrutiny w:is exercised by the society, and undoubted 
recommendations of both character and capacity 
were in every case required ; and though an opinion 
may prevail in some parts of the country to the con- 
trary, your committee arc satisfied that these agents 
generally proved to be worthy of the confidence 
reposed in them. 

" Of the large number employed but two of them 
failed to account for the money collected, and legal 
measures resorted to promptly by the society against 
their bonds have, in one of these instances, obtained 
the full amount of the liability. 

" It may well be questioned if any society execut- 
ing a plan for collecting money so extensively has 
met with equal success in justifying the integrity of 
its agents, and it is pleasing to state that not one 
cent of the funds received by this society has at any 
time been lost by investments or otherwise." 

In speaking of these contributions, and the 
sources from which they come, this committee 



made some further remarks, which I beg also 
to read : 

"Each State and two of the Territories of the 
Union have contributed a block of marble or stone, 
inscribed with its arms or some suitable device, and 
a great many others have been offered by various 
institutions and societies throughout the land ; and 
several foreign Governments have testified their 
desire to unite in this great work of humanity, in- 
tended to commemorate the virtues of its chief orna- 
ment and example. The boundaries of Christendom 
do not limit his fame, which reaches to the remotest 
parts of the earth, and the most distant and isolated 
nations have testified their veneration toward his 
memory. Switzerland, Rome, Bremen, Turkey, 
Greece, China, and Japan have piously united to 
pay their homage to our Washington. Such tributes 
are our highest trophies. The history of mankind 
affords no parallel to this. 

" We feel bound, in this place, especially to com- 
mend the zeal and liberality of the Masonic societies, 
the order of Odd Fellows, the various fire com- 
panies, and the touching contributions of the chil- 
dren of the schools of the country, all regularly 
dedicating their affectionate tributes. And the 
Cherokee and Chickasaw nations of Indians also 
deserve to be honored for their very liberal dona- 
tions of money; commemorating also in this, the 
eloquent sentiment of the great chief, Cornplanter, 
delivered to Washington in 1791: "The voice of the 
Seneca nation speaks to you, the great Councilor, 
in whose heart the wise men of all the thirteen fires 
have placed their wisdom.' " 

Mr. Speaker. I have discharged the duty 
which I promised to perform, namely, that of 
presenting to the House, in compact form, the 
important facts connected with the organiza- 
tion of the Washington Monument Associa- 
tion, and the progress of that association in 
the construction of the monument. The bill 
which I had the honor to introduce, and in 
support of which I am now addressing the 
House, appropriates $200,000 toward the com- 
pletion of the monument upon its present 
plan. The appropriation is made conditional 
upon a sufficient sum being raised or pledged 
from other sources to complete the work. I 
think this appropriation should be made without 



any condition whatever attached to its payment 
except a faithful disbursement of the money in 
execution of the original design. Thisaction by 
Congress would challenge the attention of the 
public everywhere, and would revive that feel- 
ing which, had it not been interrupted by 
unforeseen circumstances, would long since 
have found expression in a substantial form ; 
and instead of the unfinished monument to 
Washington, now a national disgrace, there 
would stand in our capital the most splendid 
column which has been erected on this globe. 

Do you need the spur of example to stimu- 
late you into the discharge of this high duty? 
Go to any country on the earth, civilized or 
uncivilized, and there be rebuked for your long 
neglect. All countries and all peoples com- 
memorate the virtues of their chieftains by 
monuments to their memory. 

Do you fear the disapprobation of the people ? 
Let it not be known to them ; swift and certain 
would be your condemnation. Effigies of 
Washington are to be found in every home in 
our land ; his memory to all of us is the one 
bright thing in our history undimmed; a pop- 
ular vote would overwhelm any man who 
would oppose the completion of Washington's 
monument. 

Mr. Speaker, I cannot conceive a deeper 
degradation to which public sentiment could be 
consigned than indifference upon this subject. 
The heart of the nation needs only to be 
awakened and it will respond generously, 
patriotically, nobly. And why may not 
Congress, as the crystallized public senti- 
ment of the country, step forward and crown 
the splendor of our approaching centennial 
by completing a monument which Congress in 
its representative capacity undertook to erect 
over seventy years ago ? The applause of a 
grateful people awaits the nation's representa- 
tives who shall discharge this sacred duty. 



Printed at the Office of the Congressional Globe. 



j Presidential Campaign. 

1872. 


REPUBLICANISM 


vs. DEMOCRACY. 

• 

1 


GRANT OR 


GREELEY. 


Printed by the Democrat Lith 


■ 
o. and Print. Co., St. Louis 



<.;•- 



sipzeiecb: 



OF 



HON. N. P. CHIPMAN, 



OF WASHINGTON. D. C, 



At St. Joseph, Missouri. 



"The election of General Grant secures the ascendency of liberty, justice, and peace. 
It insures that ours shall be henceforth a land of equal rights and equal laws. It makes 
our recent history coherent and logical. It demonstrates that the discomfiture of the re- 
bellion was no blunder and no accident, but the triumph of principle and an added prooi 
that God reigns." — Horace Greeley, Aug. 15, 1868. 

"Should my views be overruled and General Grant nominated, I hold his election 
infinitely preferable to that of any candidate whom the Democrats may nominate, for a 
Democratic triumph involves a return to power of the great mass of those who for years 
plotted the disruption of our Union." — Horace Greeley, Aug. 18, 1871. 



Mr. Chairman and Fellow-Citizens : I feel 
that I am not an e-'tire stranger to you. I was a 
member of the Second Iowa Icfantry, which in 
the spring of 1861 took military possession of the 
Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, and by a 
timely distribution of forces along the road, saved 
the northern portion of this great State from pass- 
ing into the control of tha enemies of our country 
The fortunes of war a?terwards placed me as Cbief 
of Staff to Gen. Curtis, who commanded a military 
department of which Missouri formed, a part. I 
became acquainted with many of your public men 
and came to know much of the character of your 
people. May I not then claim from you a hearing 
as one not wholly unconcerned for your prosperity ? 

The years that have rolled away since I first 
stood upod your soii as a soldier of my country, 
have been terrible years of devaetati ig war. The 
best blood of the State, the flower of your youth 
fought either for the "stars and the stripes," or 
the "stars and the bars," profoundly believing 
that upon the issue bung the fate of the greatest 
people on the globe. Over 5,000 of these per- 
ished in defense of the old flag, while more than 
that number went down with the "lost cause " 

The rebellion, then, was to Missouri a reality, 
and her people may well pause before pronounc- 



ing against that great national party, to whose 
steadfast loyalty and devotion to the Union we, 
to day, owe our existence as the leading govern- 
ment of the world. 

It would, perhaps, be impertinent in m<2 to in- 
termeddle in your local conflicts, but custom, as 
well as a common interest which the citizens of the 
whole country feel in the termination of Presiden- 
tial contests, justify me, I hope, in assuming to 
present to you from my stand-point the duiy of the 
hour. 

POLITICAL PARTIES A NECESSITY. 

I am not one of tnose that deplore the existence 
of political parties. Parties are not only inevita- 
ble, but they are the safeguards of the people's 
liberties. Parties become odious and daogerous 
only when, thiough the apathy or indifferetice of 
the people, they are left to be controlled by schem- 
ing politicians. Political parties are merely vol- 
untary organizations formed to give expression to 
the leadiDg ideas and principles which the great 
body of the people believe to be vital in the man - 
agement of government. 

Rebellion from party and alliance with its ad 
versary may succeed temporarily, as it did in this 
and some other States mainly rrom local causes 
but in the very necessity which creates parties for 



2 



national purposes, bolting movements never have 
and never can succeed. The ebb and flow of 
popular opinion is too steady and governed by 
laws too exacting to bo changed or turned aBide 
for the gratification of individuals or to follow the 
caprices of designing men. 

BUT TWO PARTIES: REPUBLICAN AND DEMO- 
CRATIC. 

Now, my friends, there ara two political parties 
presenting candidates to the people for support 
They are not new to you. They have a history 
and a record with which you ought to be familiar. 
They have confronted each other in three Presi- 
dential contests; they have struggled for State 
supremacy and control for tvelve years. &.ny 
school-boy will tell yon there are but two parties 
existicg in this country, and that tbey are the Re 
publican and Democratic. 

In 1860 the Republican party fought the battle on 
the idea that no more slave territory should be al- 
lowed. The Democrats were defeated, and the 
South male the defeat a casus belli. The head of 
the Democratic party. Mr. Buchanan, then Presi- 
dent, saw no way to put down the rebellion Mr. 
Breckinridge, Vice-President and Democratic can- 
didate for president, not only did not see any way 
to putjit down, but did see a way to help inaugu- 
rate it, aud himself went over to the rebellion. 

In 1864, the war still flagrant, the Democratic 
party, on an anti-war and peace-at-acy-price plat- 
form, nominated a retired Union officer, but the 
people preferred Republican^ rule, and elected 
Mr. Lincoln. 

In 1868 the Democrats rallied again, and on a 
platform which showed they had not learned any 
thing from the war, nominated an anti war Demo- 
crat, and an ex-officer of the Union army, an old 
anti slavery man who had goneoverto the Democ- 
racy. The Republicans commended to the suf- 
frage of the people Gen. Grant, on a platform con- 
sistent with their previous record. Again the peo • 
pie sustained the Republican party. Since then 
we have had one Congress elected. In many of 
the States there hhve been two or mere elections. 
I have never heard of there being any considerable 
number of persons operating i a any party organ- 
ization outside of these two. Up to the very close 
of the last Congress Democrats voted uniformly 
on all party questions exactly as they always had 
Just before the adjournment of Congress certain 
disappointed, disaffected, ambitious, and so- 
called Reform Republicans met at Cincinnati, not 
as Republicans, but as reformers, and nominated 
Mr. Greeley. Subsequently the Democratic Con- 
vention met at Baltimore, and in defiance of th" 
wishes of nine-tenths of the party, adopted Mr. 
Greeley as its nominee. 

Now, no one will for a moment contend that the 
Democratic party changed its principles or its 
purposes in nominating Mr. Greeley any more 
than when they nominated Gen. MeCiellan in 
1864, or in 1868, when they put Gen, Bl»ir on the 
ticket. No one will argue fhat the Democratic 
party is dissolved. It exists in every town, coun- 
ty, city and State. I challenge the production of a 
single Democrat who claims to have been con- 
verted by the Baltimore nomination. This much 
conceded, we are then to try these two parties on 



their old merits and demerits, and by no other 
rule can we safely try them. 

REPUBLICANISM VS. DEMOCRACY. 

I cannot, Mr. Chairman, in pursuing the line of 
argument which I have marked out for this occa- 
sion, stop now to present the full record of these 
two parties. I can only glance at a few salient 
points of difference. I grant, sir, the statute of 
limitations run6 against the Democratic partv 
prior to the war. Ihe comparison cannot go back 
of that period, for the Republican party did not 
then exist. These two parties are to be judged by 
not only what they did or sought to do, but by the 
spirit ar.d purpose with which they labored. It is 
a part of the history of the rebellion that one sin- 
pie purpose animated the Republican party 
throughout this terrible struggle, and that was the 
restoration of the Union and the establishment of 
national supremacy in all rightful subjects of con- 
trol, as against the vicious doctrine of secession 
or State supremacy. Here was the fundamental 
question on which these two parties divided. 
President Buchanan and his Attorney General, 
Black, had given the strongest possible expres- 
sion to this Democratic idea, and it was one of the 
legacies of that administration left to Mr. Lin- 
coln. 

Mr. Lincoln, representing the Republican idea, 
called for troops to suppress the rebellion, and 
convened Congress to submit to them the question 
as to the power of the government to maintain its 
integrity- Congress assembled, and began its 
work. It toon became evident that the leaders of 
rebellion not only sought to destroy the Union, but 
that their avowed purpose was to peipetuate 
slavery as a feature of tbeir new government. Mr. 
Lincoln, as you all kt.ow. fought off all efforts to 
open war on the system of slavery. Union officers 
issued orders returning slaves to their masters. 
Coagress abstained from legislation upon the irri- 
tating subject, ana not until the purposes of the 
reoel government became manifest, and legislation 
upon the subject grew to be a war necessity, as 
well as a question of humanity, did the govern- 
ment attempt to iuterfere. The Proclamation of 
Emancipation followed. Numerous acts of Con- 
gress were passed to ecforce the proclamation, 
and the freedom of the slave became a Republi- 
can doctrine as a part of the plan for restoring the 
Union. The thirteenth, fourteenth ana fifteenth 
amendments became a part of our Constitution. 
The war closed, the Union was restored, the 
slaves were free and became citizens, and neace 
returned throughout all our borders. To day 
none rejoice more over these glorious results than 
the unpiejudiced slave owner. No one will ques- 
tion now the necessity which brought all this 
ab nit, and few will doubt the wisaom of the 
policy. But, my fneods, this was not accom- 
plii-md without gre>it and untold s-uffering; it was 
not accomplished alone by overcoming an army in 
the field, out it was done in the face of vioient 
and almost tieasonable opposition from the Demo- 
cratic pbrty North in ami out of Congress. Tbey 
voieu against supplying your armies; they voted 
against submitting the proposed amendments to 
the States, and wherever there was a Democratic 
Legislature these amendments were rejected. I 
speak only history to you familiar now to ail. 
Need I go back to remind you of the many and 
beneficent measures which were enacted in the 
midst of the nation's throes — its acts to aid in the 
construction of a Pacific Railwav; its acts extend- 
ing the right .to acquire homesteads; its acts fos- 
tering education a^d agriculture; its acts to pro- 
vide a nntional currency; its acts to secure all 
persons iq their civil rights; its acts encouraging 
telegraphic communication; its acts to relieve and 
protect the freedmen ; its acts furnishing relief to 
the destitute people of the South; its acts to pro- 
vide revenues for the government ; its acts to pay 



bounties and pensions to the soldiers of the war- 
need I speak of these— many of which were bitter- 
ly opposed in Congress by the Democrats— tore 
mind you of the proud record of that party which 
now presents for the fourth time a candidate 
pledged to enforce its policy? Now I declare to 
you that if Democracy means anything to-dav it 
means j 'St what it has in the past. We have no 
guarantee beyond this We must judge it by its 
acts ard its utterances, and thus judging we can- 
not support it unless we are ready to draw a black 
line through this Republican record. 

The Democratic party to day has no distinctive 
policy. We know mat many of its leaders assert 
a purpose, should it come into power, to unno the 
legislation which they regard as obnoxious. Judge 
Black, of Pennsylvania, denounces the amend- 
ments to the Constitution as revolutionary, and 
says that the Democratic paity propose "their 
gradual extinction." The whole aim and object 
of the Democracy, so far as we can judge, are re- 
actionary and destructive. They purpose tearing 
down, ratber than building up, the waste places. 
There must be some great and overpowering rea- 
son which would lead, the people to reject the 
party which has done so much that is comenenda 
ble, and take up a party which has only thus far 
stood in the way of the nation's progress. Letns 
advance a step in the argument and see what the 
promise of this Democratic millenium is. Let us 
see whether the later years of Republican rule give 
token of danger to the country. 

PEACE AND RECONCILIATION, 

It is said that the couDtry needs repose from 
repressive and sec'ional legislation; that tte Re- 
publican party embodies all the hatred of rebel- 
lion, and cannot legislate in fairness to our Sellow- 
citizens of the South, and that cruel acid unneces 
sary disabilities are enforced against the people of 
the South, and that, therefore, we must place the 
Democratic party in power. My friends, I deny 
the charge, and I deny that the remedy proposed 
is a wise one. Let us not deceive ourselves. Let 
us look at the facts. What are their disabilities? 
What are these much complained of revolutionary 
and wicked laws? 

DISFRANCHISEMENT. 

We are told that the people of the South have 
not the riant to govern themselves because of dis- 
franchisement. What are the facts? The people 
of the United Statee, by the Fourteenth Amend- 
ment, excluded from holding office certain per- 
sons who had been in rebellion ; but that amend- 
ment deprived no man of the right to vote. This 
was proposed to the States in June, 186ti. Would 
any sane man doubt the propriety of excluding 
from office, at that time, men who had just re 
turned from a hostile army? But it provided, 
also, that Congress by a two-thirds vote might re- 
lieve this class from the disability. And Con- 
gress has reh ved them so that to day there 
are not 300 without full citizenship, and they per- 
sistently refuse to ask amnesty. 

History furnishes no example of such forbear- 
ance as was shown to the conquered South. In 
all countries but ours rebellion nas been followed 
by butcheries, executions and expatriations. 
Russia, Austria, Prussia, England, Spain, 
France, all tell the same bloody story. Not a 
single trial or execution has followed the suppres- 
sion of our rebellion. Not only were lives and 
property spared, but all special taxes were re- 
moved. The cotton tax was taken off, leaving 
scarcely any other source of revenue from the 
South and this too in face of the fact that the rebei- 
lon had run the expenses of government up from 
lseventy to 300,000,000 of dollars annually, all of 
which was paid by the people of the North. 

This is not all. When the cry of distress came 
up from the South, after the war, a Republican 
Congress appropriated $5,000,000 for their relief; 
Bhips of war were sent wnh provisio s, and after 
wards specific relief was voted by Congress. 

Nor is this all There have been admitted into 
Congress two Senators, both of whom were gene- 
rals in the rebel army, and nineteen ih the House 
of Representatives, who were also rebel officers, 
besides one who was a member of the Rebel Con- 
gress, and two who were judges of courts South. 

Here, then, is the exposure of this appeal to 
hate. It is bald hypocrisy for Democrats to pre- 



tend to be the only friends of the South. The Re- 
publican party have gone to the verge of safety in 
brotherly love and forgiveness. If they have 
erred, it has been in that direction, and not by en- 
forcing cruel legislation. 

KD-KLUX LEGISLATION. 

But the Republican party is assailed, not only 
for disfranchising, but for oppressing the people 
with odious penal statutes. The only ones I know 
of as coming under this head are the so-called Ku- 
Klux acts and that authorizing the suspension of 
habeas corpus; the latter has expired by limita- 
tion, I believe. 

The Ku-Klux law grew out of acts of lawless- 
ness, murders and whipping perpetrated by an 
organized band in some of the Southern States. 
in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, 
Mississippi and Florida over a hundred counties 
were kept in a state of terror : namless Atrocities 
were perpetrated; whites and blacks murdered, 
and no relief could be secured from the State 
courts. The people of the South appealed piteous- 
ly to Congress, and the act was passed conferring 
jurisdiction ou the United States courts. A large 
number were indicted and convicted; many pleaded 
guilty, and still others remain to be tried. At the 
trial of some of them, tie late Attorney General 
Stanbery and Mr. Reverdy Johnson were counsel 
for the prisoners. Both are acting with the Demo- 
cratic party, and their utterances must be admitted 
as important. I read from Mr. Johnson's argu- 
ment to the jury : 

"But Mr. Attorney General has remarked, and would 
have you suppose, that my friend and myself are here 
to defend, to jusriiy, or lo palliate the'outrages that 
may have been perpetrated in your State by this asso- 
ciation of Ku-Klux. He makes a great mistake as te 
both of us. I have listened wiib unmixea horror to 
some of the testimony which has be<=n brought before 
you. The outrages proved are shocking to humanity; 
they admit of neither excuse nor justification; they 
violate every obligation which law and nature impose 
upon man ; they show that the parties engaged were 
brutes, insensible to the obligations of humanity and 
religion. The day will come, however, if it has not al- 
ready arrived, when they will deeply lament it. Even 
if justice should not overtake them, there is one tribu- 
nal from which there is no escape. It is their own 
judgment, that tribunal which sits in the breast of 
every living man— that small, still voice that thrills 
through the heart— the soul of the mind, and, as it 
speaks, gives happiness or torture— the voice of con- 
science, the voice of God." 

Mr. Johnson might well stand appalled at the 
evidence which disclosed 426 murders and over 
2,900 other aces of violence. In the face of these 
facts I leave the Democracy to rail at Congiess for 
coming to the relief of the South. Certainly no 
man who respects life and the peace and quiet of 
the people thus persecuted will higgle over the 
constitutionality of the law or split hairs upon the 
question of jurisdiction. 

If the Democratic party are not satisfied with 
this, then I refer tbem to their candidate for the 
Presidency, Mr. Greeley, who said to them in the 
Tribune. March 14, 1871, wnile the act waspend- 
ng: 

"You may carry most of the intervening elections, 
wheie the issue is not distinctly and vigorously pressed 
home upon the masses, but. when wecome to 1872, you 
will assuredly be beaten by the votes of men who are 
not politicians and are now not voting at all. ,We shall 
only have to drive home the facts which prove your 
complicity in the crimes now convulsing the South, 
and you will inevitably go under. If you succeed in 
defeating legislation to protect the loyal men of the 
South from the crimes to which they are now exposed 
and subjected, youi fourth successive discomfiture in a 
Presidential struggle will be signal and conclusive," 

And again , July 12, 1871 : 

"I h3id our government, bound ny its duty of pro- 
tecting citizens in their fundamental rights to pass and 
enforce laws for the extirpation of the execrable 
Ku-Klux conspiracy. And if it has not the power to 
doit, then 1 say our government is no government, but 
a sham." 

And I commend them, also, to read his opinion 
as late as January 10, 1872, after the trials. He 
s»ys ; 

"But the testimony brought out overwhe'med all ar- 
gument, and forty-seven of these wretches confessed 
their crimes In open court, six others were convicted, 
and seventy-two indictments, embracing over 500 per- 
sons, were found. The story of brutality, crime, vio- 
lence and moral degradation made up from the revela- 
tions of the witnesses is too revolting for recital; it Is a 



dark chapter in the history of civilization; it is a burn- 
lug disgrace to the party which organized the consiracy , 
aided and abetted its agents, and did its best to suppress 
the evidence now published to the world." 

REFORM. 

But these aspirants for power, among other of 
their vague demands, sav we need reform. Re 
form from what? Some say reform in the 

CIVIL SERVICE. 

Here, too, we meet them with the record of our 
party, and challenge comparison. What party 
first in this country agitated reform in this direc- 
tion? What party first inaugurated a system of 
competitive examination-' What President first 
mentioned this reform in messages to Congress? It 
was the Republican party and a Republican Pres- 
ident. 

What do these Liberals mean by assailing the 
Republican party on this ground? Do they not 
know that the election of Mr Greeley woulo result 
id trie removal of every Republic luoffi e holder in 
the land, from least uoto greatest, without regard 
for qualification or fitness? Do they not knosy that 
sucti removal wouli cost tDis go^eruoimt millions 
of dollar^ inevitably? Do tbey not know tnai uo 
cier Grant tbe law ' have been enforced and ihe 
revenues have been collected as economically as 
ever btfore? Let us see 

EXPENDITURES PER CAPITA. 

The expecduines per cipita on a gold and 
peace b4Bis uuder Buchanan during the 
fiscal year ending June 30, 1860, were $1 98 

The expenses under Grant f >r the year end- 
ing Jaue 30, 1871, were 177 

Ex ess under Buchanan 21 

1 include in this tbe co 1 - 1 of public buildings , which 
under Buchanan were $2,913,371 48. while under 
Grant this amounted to $10,733,759 05. But we 
must of ciurse exclude from trie tstiuihte those 
expenses of Grant's administration, whicn are in- 
cident to tbe war. Certainly there is not much 
room for reform, here 

REDUCTION OF TAXES. 

But we are toid (hat taxes are burdensome, and 
we need reform in tins auection. Lei us Fee. I 
a6k your attention to the table which I shall read, 
giving the estimated reduction of a» nual internal 
taxation and customs duths underthelaws passed 
by this wicked ana extravagant Republican Con- 
gress: 

By act of July 13, 1866 $65,000,000 00 

By act of March 2, 1867 40,000 000 00 

By act of February 3, 1868 23 000,000 00 

By act of March 31 and July 20, 1868 45,000.000 00 

By act of July 4. 1870 78,848,827 33 

By act of May 1 and June 6, 1872... 51,823.761 38 

Net total reduction of internal taxes 
and custom duties from July 13, 

1866, to June 6, 1872 $303,672,588 71 

That is, the countiy has bpen relieved from taxa- 
tion unce 1866 ovt-r $300,000,000 00 What have 
these ardent reformers to say to that? Do they 
want taxes reduced more or less rapidly? Do they 
say definitely what they want on this subject? 1 
have yet to hear it. The people want defi' ite ideas 
They ought to know just what these gentlemen pro- 
pose. 

REDUCTION OF DEBT. 

Perhaps thev complain that our debt is not be- 
ing paid off fast enough, or possibly too fast. Let 
me tell you just what has been done in this regard 
since Marcb, 1869, when General Grant took charge 
of our affairs; 
The debt on March 1, 1869, less 

cash in Treasury, was $2,525,463,260 01 

The debt on July!, 1872, less cash 

in Treasury, was , 2,191,486,343 62 

The reduction of the debt in three 

years ami four moDtns was 333,976,916 39 

This is at the rate of over $100,000,000 annua'lly, 
or over $8,000,000 permonta. 

It is very difficult for a mind not accustomed to 
contemplate large sums to comprehend this vast 
reduction. Our Liberal frieDds may carp, but 
they can't wipe out this splendid record. 



REDUCTION OF INTEREST. 

But we must cot stop here The debt has still 
further been reduced, and our burdens still fur- 
ther lightened 
Tiie monthly charee for interest on 

dent March 1, 1869, was $10,532,462 50 

The monthly charge for interest on 

debt July 1, 1872, wae 8,665,705 25 

Reduction m monthly interest $ 1,866,757 25 

Reduction ie annual interest 22,401,087 00 

This annual saving of interest alone, if invested 
in a skking fund, and interest on that reinvested 
at five per cent., pavabie an anally, would payoff 
our whole oebt of $2,253,251,328 78 in lets than 
thirty-eight years. 

Now, gentlemen, I assert that this great reduc- 
tion of the national debt, coir cidett with the large 
reduction in our taxation, is without a parallel in 
the financial bittory of nations. 

But I must cot stop here in this rxhibit One 
other feature and I will pass to something else. 

PUBLIC CRFDIT. 

I have a table car- fully preoaied from the books 
of the Treasury showing the fluctuations of nation- 
al credit smce 1861 I will tsot ueiay you to read 
it. That table mows, however, that from March, 
1861, the close of Mr Buchanan's aomiuistration, 
to March, 1869, the close of Mr. Johnson's admin- 
istration , iiot«'Hbstauairig the expenditures inci- 
dent to the war, the bon owing power of the gov- 
er ment advanced from 8.14 per cent to 6.43 per 
cent, which is an increase in tue borrowing power 
of Leurly 27 per cent. 

During ibe period of President Grant's adminis- 
tration, from Maich 5, '69, to July 1, '72, the 
credit of the government i-ull further advanced 
fiom 6 43 pei cent to 5.03 per cent— au inert ase of 
nearly 28 percent in the borrowing power of the 
government and for the entire decade of 62 per 
cent. 

To put it in another form: The same anDnal 
p lyment of interest which in March, 1869, would 
have enabled tregovernmentto borrow $100 would 
now enable it to borrow $128 The same annual 
interest which in March, 1868, would have enabled 
it to borrow $100 woufi no* enable it to borrow 
$143 I'he same annual inti rest which in March, 
1861, would have enabled it to borrow $100 would 
now enable it to borrow $162 

Here, my friends, is a biief outline of some of 
the results of Republican administration, and 
which I submit entitle it to your cortideoce. These 
are the kino of leformr- m which the Republican 
party invite your co operation. 

Wnat this Liberal Democratic party would do, 
or what tbey propose to do if successful, neither 
iht-y or you know. Their advent to power would 
bring chaos in our fi anc.es; would disturb our 
credit Abroad and at home, and would shake the 
foundations of public confidence. They can do no 
better than has been done; they might io worse. 
You know what is being done; you know what is 
proposed in the future. Is it wise to make a 
change? 

I have tried to anticipate what the reformers in- 
tend I am, as frankly as I know how, giving you 
the exact condition cf public affairs, and I confi- 
dently rest the case thus far to jour candid judg- 
ment If my Democratic-Liberal friend wants 
higher authority, and he will trust the judgment 
of bis candidate, then I will gratify him by read- 
ing a paragraph from Mr Greeley 's opinion: 

"The fact that the r'ebt has been steadilv and large- 
ly reduced has done more than an> thing els< to make 
the administraiion and the party supporting it strong 
and ponu.ar. So mam 7 millions paid off each month 
are to Gen. Granr's administration what IlDlon victo- 
ries on hard-fought fields were to Mr. Lincoln's. No 
financial difficulties beset a rule which is thus amply 
supplieu with revenue and using it lor such a purpose. 
Trie f ict stated by the President that the annual bur- 
ten ol tbe debt is now » 17,000.00C less than it was when 
he was inaugurated ia a perfect Vicksburg to his sup- 
porters."— [Tribune. December 5, 1871, 

What would Mr. Greeley say now if his keepers 
would allow him, at the fact that our annual in- 
terest burden is diminished over $22, 400,000 in- 
stead of $17,000 000. He would tell vou that this 
is the Appomattox of our financial struggle with 
the national debt. But nis friends keep him quiet 
and cry reform, reform I 



INDIAN POLICY. 

Bat possibly onr Indian policy is to be reformed. 
Does it need it? 

We know that Gen. Grant's Indian policy has 
been attacked systematically and denounced as 
visionary. Here in the West where the red man 
has few friends, and where the lawlessness and 
outraees of Indians are exaggerated to inflame tne 
people, this policy lias been particularly assailed. 
May we not look at the facts? 

During Grant's administration over 80,000 In- 
dians have been brought to agencies aud placed 
uoder the care of government. Not over 50,000 
(out of 293,000 in the United States, exclusive or 
Alaska; are still roaming beyond the supervision 
of agents. Within the coming year it If confident- 
ly believed that all the Indians will be brought in 
on reservations. Over 130,000— nearly half— are 
now supporting themselves upon their own lanus, 
receiving nothing from the government oeyono 
interest od ooncs given them for landB purchased 
by the government These land-* have been soli 
for many times rhe amount pan for them. It costs 
$2,446,000 to subs tt rhe 113,000 Indians at agen- 
cies, an average of $21 50 pi r neaa. 

A force of 900 sgents, teachers, blacksmiths, 
fanner.. , millers, are engaged in instructing these 
people and aiding teem in making homes. 

The expense of carryiug out this policy of feed- 
ing rather than fighiing the luoians, ana of en- 
couraging toem to take up agriculture and civil- 
ized life, is about $4,000,000. As a result we 
have had comparative peace and security of life 
and proper y. 

You know that Indian wars are not luxuries to 
be coveted. They co t millions of doll irs 

In the report of the Commissioner of Iodian Af- 
fairs for 1868, I fi d that every Indian warrior 
killed in tne Florida war, tne Sioux war ot 
1852-54, and the Cheyenne war, 1864, cost the gov- 
ernment a million aollars and the lives of twenty 
white men. 

In (he eloquent language of Secretary Delano: 
"Lett'ose who from lack of correct infoimation 
are incredu ous; let those whose desire tor re- 
veDge has been arous-ed by exaergericea accounts 
of Indian aepredatrous ; let those who wish to 
cnange ihe prest-nt policy in order to renew agai' 
the hort of faithless assents and contractors to 
plunder the ignorant savage and rob him or tne 
aid and benefice ce of toe government, ponder 
tbe°e facts, and answer before God and a Chris 
tian nation whether they will if tney can destrov 
the present pi licy or peace, justice and progress 
and restore ihe former system of crueitt, rob- 
bery, inhumanity, war, bloodshed and crime " 

Now, my friends, I have gone over the whole of 
our dome-tic policy so far as itoccurs tome. I have 
tried to do this fairly, and I challenge any one to 
point out defects which will warrant a revolution 
in that po icy. Much of this policy has be^n car 
ried out. in the face of inconceivable difficulties 
and against trie open hostility of that party wmch 
to-day ia grai-pina for the reigns of government 
Is it remarkable that in all the great cites, where 
the commercial interests of the country center — 
where prosperity is prosperity to to.e farmer, and 
where disaster is certain disaster to the farmer — 
that almost uniformly business men are alarmed 
at the prospect ot Greeley's election? Is it re- 
markable that the commercial and business inter 
ests of the country are almost uniformly rallying 
around the administration which has wrought oui 
for the country such wonderful results, and de- 
manding that there shall be no change? 

FOREIGN POLICY. 

Well, then, if our domestic p jlicy does not need 
reform, does our foreign policy? 

I shall not delay you here. 

Are we not at peace with all the world? 

Mr. Sumner has lately said that "wo are in a 
muddle with everybody. " Can you name a gov 
ernment on the globe with which we are in a mud- 
dle? Can any of you name a sea, an island or a 
continent with which we are not at peace, and 
where our flag is not respected? Can aDy ot you 
name a money market in the world where our se- 
curities ii re not sought? Can any of you name a 
power where the rignts of American citizens are 
denied. Can you name a power between which 
and us there is any contested matter? 



The treaty with England and the Geneva settle- 
ment, which have 'been applauded by all people 
as the result of wise statesmanship and advanced 
civilization, leaves us more than mistress of the 
seas, i r leaves us complete mistress of ourselves. 

My fellow-citizens, 1 have placed before you the 
record of the Republican party, and have Loiiced 
some of its achievements in the past twelve years, 
particularly dwelling upon those under the admin- 
istration now on trial Is this administration a 
failure? how? in what? Does it need reform? how? 
in what? It is no answer to cry outretorm, recon- 
ciliation corruption, bad government. We have a 
right to be told what is wrong, and what remedy 
should be applied. The American people are a 
race of thouuhtrul, earnest, {practical men. They 
demand a reason for every thing, and tbey will 
demand a reason for overthrowing the work 
whicn I have feebly sketched before they will join 
the Chinese army of gong-heaters and noise-makers 
wbo seek to hide the merits of this contest out of 
sight by clamor 

GRAM ^K GREELEY? 

But, my friend , if this campaign is not to be 
decide i by a fair test ot the principles and record 
of tae two great parties ot the cone try, it may be 
our adversaries o pe to tettle it upon'the personal 
merits or demeritt- of the candidates. Be it so. 

GREELEY AND GRANT AS PEACEMAKERS. 

Woo is Mr. Gree.ey. that he t-nonld onug near 
two million ot Democrats at bis feet as worship- 
ers, hy the legerdemain of a few political trick- 
ster*? What great service has he ever rendered 
tne Democratic party or this country that thev 
should ail at oi ce si- g hallelujahs t<> his name? 
His be charged, or have they changed? If eitier, 
« ho i6 Dei* g sold out? If neither, wnat sort of 
hybrid combination have we? 

In toese pipi' g times of honest government and 
reform, is it not a litte marvelous that the party 
of reformers ai d boDest government, par excel- 
lence, should make a combination, to say the 
east, so suspicious? I ;dmire an honorable ad- 
versary ; I nave even admired the persiste cy with 
woich the Democratic partv fought us during the 
pist ten years, but I can't help but ertertain a 
feeling or contempt for a great party which will 
walk up at the bidding of a few leaders and lay its 
head upon the block I oecusionallj met the ene 
uiv during the war disguised in the blue, and 
sometimes carrying the old flag, but, I never felt 
that it was nonorable waifare, or that, if cap 
tui fed, they were enutied io quarter. But I never 
exoecred to witness the day when the traditional 
Dem >cratic party, that haci ruled ibis country for 
fifty years on boid, marly grounds, would attempt 
to steal into power in toe disguise of an old cast-off 
Republican wbi.e coat and hat ! I can justify on 
the law of self preservation, the escape of an 
ensmy in his wife's petticoat, but this amazes me I 

Now, then, you want reconciliation, you want 
the wounds of the rebellion healed Very well; 
let uie show you to what nweet repose you were 
invited by Mr Greeley. When the war was wagiog 
he expected it would close successfully for the 
Urion. Tne rebel armies were to retur» to their 
iiomes. Mr. Greeley nao some idea of reconstruc- 
tion, of mercy ana kindness, which I must read 
you. He said: 

"But, nevertheless, we mem to conquer them — not 
merely to defeat, but to conquer, to subjugate 
theaa. But when the rebellious traitors are over- 
whelmed in the held, and scattered like leaves before 
ai angry wind, it must not ne to return to peaceful and 
eonteutea j,ornes they must find poverty at rheir fire- 
sides, a jd see privation in the anxious ej es of mothers 
and the rags of children."— [Tribune, Maj 1, 1861. 

Again he -aid : 

" They choose to play the part of traitors, and thev 
must pay ihe penally. 'Ihe worn cut race of emascu- 
lated flrs-t families must give place to a sturdier people 
whose pioneers are on their way to Washington in regi- 
ments. An all itnient of land in Virginia would be a 
fitting reward to the brave fellows »bo have gone to 
right their country's battles."— [Editorial headed 
'•Confiscation." Tribune, April 23, 1861. 

My fri-nds, 1 have seen our orave men mangled 
and torn bv rebel bullets and carried from the 
field. I have -een item returning from prison- 
pens living skeletons, walking monument of rebel 
cruelty ; but, sir, never have I beard uttered from 
a single Union soldier a sentiment so diabolical 
and atrocious as this of Mr. Greeley. One of the 



most brilliant men this country has produced, 
Tom Corwin, of Ohio, when the question of war 
with Mexico came up. in a speech of treat power 
against tbe war, sain: "1*1 were a Mexican, as 
I am an American, and your araay should invade 
mycouotrv.I would welcome your soldiers with 
bloody hand* to hospitable graves. ' ' 

Mr. Oorwin never outlived that sentiment; it 
hung about, him like the mark of Cain. Beho'd, 
to day, a candidate for President, supported by 
the soldiers of tbe rebellion, who would welcome 
them to poverty, privation, deato ; and would 
parcel out their hwmes to the victorious soldiers of 
tbe North ! 

Contra t this with the terms of cbivalne mag 
nanirnity with which Gen Grant cl.thed his stip 
ulaior> for the surrender of Gen Lee's army at 
Appamrtt'ox Court He use. Ithirk we may, with 
profit, turn bock to this leaf of history. After 
disposine of some details. Gen. Grunt says: "The 
arms, artillery, and public pr >pertv, to b" parked 
and stacked, aun turned over to the officers a.i- 
pomted by me to receive them 

Thi3 will notembrace the side arms of the officers 
nor ihe'r private horses or baggage. 

This done, each officer ana man will be allowed 
to return to bis home, not to be disturbed by 
United States authority so Jong as they observe 
their pirole ana the laws in force wheie they may 
reside." 

Aside from the great magranimity and kindness 
displayed by Gen Gran in this memorable letter 
to Gen. Lee, it was destined to become the basis 
of legislation, a> d I have alwayb felt th t Gen, 
Grant ho intended it. 

Here wa» tne pledge of tbe General m-Cbief that 
no authority of tbe United ->tares should reach 
those brave meo, as punishment or reverge, so 
long a* thev obeyed tbe laws and kept their pa- 
role. 

Remember, my friends, we are contrasting these 
two Presidential candidates as to their persona) fit- 
ness to enforce measures of reconciliation ana 
peace. We have disposed of the parties and their 
platforms. Let men mind yon of a little more his- 
tory. After Andrew. Johnson became President, you 
know what bloody work he proposed to make of 
winding up rebellion. Among other things, he 
sought the mdictment of Geu. Lee for treason. 
Gen Lee heard of it, and wrote Gen. Grant, in- 
closing an application for a pardon, but said not 
to present it if proceedings were commenced 
against him, for he would stand the test. Gen- 
Grant rep led, and wrote Ge<. Lee that he hart 
seen the President at>d protested against any 
step? being taken against Gen. Lee, and informed 
him that he considered the honor of the nation 
pledged to him. The President became satisfied, 
and no proceedings were commenced. Gen. Grant 
sent the application for pardon, with a etro»g rec- 
ommendation that it be granted, but for some rea- 
son it was not. What 1 am now telling you is on 
the statement of Keverdy Johnson, and may be 
founa on page 553, Appendix to life of Gen. i_.ee, 
by J. E Cooke. 

Now, my friends, we are contracting the hearts 
of the.-e candidates If you caa find anywhere in 
Mr. Greeley's writings or speeches one genuine 
kindly seniiment expre sed toward the South dur 
ing or since tbe war until he became afflicted with 
the Presidential fever, you will do trore than I 
have been able to do. On the contrary, if you can 
find one sentiment exprer sed by Gen. Grant during 
or since the war that" is not kind, magnanimous 
and just, you will greatly astonish me, for I can't 
find it. 

Mr Greeley bailed Jeff. Davi-t Was it for re 
spect for the mac , or sympathy for his sufferings 
in imprisonment? Was it because his kindness of 
heart, or his desire for recoi cdiation, moved the 
act? Can this be io the light of Mr. Greeley's ut- 
terance at the time and before and since 

I read from the Tribune, May 13, 1864: "Jeff. 
Davis has just put fonh afresh manifesto to tbe 
dupes he in impoverishing, starving, and killing. 
The bloody-minded villain knows every word of 
this to be fabe as tboueh it came direct from tbe 
father of lies. " Again, after Mr. Davis' arre3t, 
and but a few days before Mr Greeley went on 
his botd, he wrot"; in the Tribune the following: 
"If Mr. Davis is to be tried— as it seems to us he 



ought to be— we can imagine no reason for defer- 
ring his trial."— [Tribune, Jane 4, 1S66. 

Later, and after Mr. Davis had retired to pri- 
vate iiff. Mr. Greeley pours into his eur consoling 
*>rds of peace aud reconciliation after this man- 
ner: 

"Mr. Jefferson Davis has at last found his vocation. 
He made a bid fob of it in 'founding a nation,' but he 
feetiis to lare oetter as a popular lecturer. The im- 
portance of exploring Jeru-alem is the present burden 
of r.is song. Liktwise the peculiar fitness of English- 
men for tnat honorable " task. ' Being thus Orientally 
inclined.be will nt xt be heard of , we presume, dis- 
coursing on 'Deaa Sea bruits ' Tussibly , indeed, he 
may follow that with "The peculiar fitness of Ameri- 
cans (in the Southern States) for ibeir enjoyment.' 
After this the 'Apple of Sodom;' and then 'The Ten 
Lost Tribes.' "— rTribune, IVoveniber iff, 1868. 

Let n» one quote the bailing of Jeff. Davis as 
an evidence of Air Gre.lty's great- heartedness 
after this gratuitous and supercilious fling at the 
object of ma pretended benevolence. 

GREELEY A.\D GRANT AS LOYALISTS. 

Ic is, my trie.-ds, a humiliating thing to be call- 
ed upon to expose a former party associate, and 
one who has rendered such eminent service as Mr. 
Greeley has, but his candidacy invites it and it 
must be made. 

I do not sav that Mr Greeley was disloyal at 
heart, or wished to see the country divided; but I 
say that he entertained views in favor of the right 
of a State to withdraw from tbe Union, and ex- 
pre ised tbem in such unmistakable terms at the 
beginning of iheiebtl'ion as to give substantial and 
moral aid to the enemy His responsibility was 
very great, for he w. s the acknowledged leading 
political writer fin the Republican side, and his 
paper was the mouthpiece and organ of the party. 
That he favored secession, is established by his 
own writings, and by tbem he shall be tried. On 
November 2, 1860, he published a leading editorial, 
m wricb he said tnat — 

"Whenever any considerable section of this 
Union shall really insist on getting out of it, we 
shall lusii-t chat they be allowed to go, and we feel 
assured that the North generally cnerisbes a kin- 
<red determination. So let there be no more 
babble as to tbe ability of the Cotton States to 
whip the North. If they will tight, they must hunt 
up some other enemy, for we are not going to tight 
them, " 

Mark the time; this was before Mr. Li coin's 
election, ana when the South were proclaiming 
that if elected rbey would withdraw from the 
Union. What effect these utterances had vpon the 
South I leave for another to tell, when I shall have 
given another extract from this treasonable record. 
In January following he wrote: 

"As to secession, I have said repeatedly, and here 
repeat, that if the People of the slave States, 
ok of the Cotton states alone, really wish 
to get out of the Union, I AM IN FAVOR Ob' 
LETTING- THEM OUT, as soon as that result can be 
peacefully and constitutionally attained. But their 
case cannot De so urgent as to requii e that the Presi- 
dent and his subordinates should perjure themseives in 
deft-reuce to its requirements. If they will only be 
patient, not rushing to seize fedeial forts, arsenals, 
arms and sub-treasuries, but take, first, deliberately, 
a fair vote by ballot of their own citiiens, none teing 
coerced or intimidated, and that vote shall indicate a 
seuled resolve to get out of the Union, I WILL 
DO ALL I CAN TO HELP THEM OUT at an early 
dav."— [From the New York Tribune of January i4, 
lSttl. 

Let no man tay we falsely accuse Horace Gree- 
ley of bei: g an original secessionist Here is the 
handwritu g on ttie wall, and he wrote it himself. 
His course shocked the whole ^North as it fired the 
hearts of tbe South. For a no less offense Val- 
landigham was afterwards driven into the enemy's 
lines; 

Now then, mv friends, as to the effect of these 
utterances on rebellion, let yourown distinguished 
Senator Blair speak I quote from the Congress- 
ional Globe of February 17, 1871. 

"We all know, savs Senator Blair, of a very dis- 
tinguished man, AlexanderH. Stephens. We all know 
thai as a member of the fieorgia Convention he con- 
tended with eloquence and a 1 ility in favor of the Gov- 
ernment of the Uuited State* ; and I have been in- 
formed that the only reply which was made to him, 
that eloquent appeal of his to support the government 
was tbe reading by Mr.Toombsoia paragraph from the 
New York Triuuue, ia which it was declared that If the 



Southern people close to secede, thev had as much 
right to separate themselves from the Northern States 
an our ancestors had in 177C to separate themselves 
from the mother countrv." 

Senator Howard interrupted the Senator to ask 
him if he regarded the paragraph as furnishing 
Mr. Stephens any justification for his treason. 

Gen Blair replied "I do not r^ard that any thing 
justified treason, and I do not think the conduct or' 
the South justified that traitorous expression of 
opinion on the part of the Tribune, for I regard it 
as traitorous. ' ' 

The Tribune attempted to I'lfwfr Senator Blair, 
and be remmeo to the attack February 20. 1871. 

After quoung from the Tribune what I nave 
read to you he said : 

"Words -were never uttered more fatal than those to 
the peace of the c< untry. Mr. Stephens w as defeated 
In his effort to prevent secession in Georgia 1>j a few 
votes onlv, and nothing is more certain than that ihese 
were obtained bv Mr, Greeley's declaration that se- 
cession was rightful and would be peaceable. Who, 
then, is more din ctly resprnsiole Hiau Mr. Greeley, 
and tnose who acted with him at the Nor'li. for the 
blood which has drenched this land; aid who is more 
resnonsiole tor the vindictive soirit which animates the 
dominant paity iu the proscription which has pursued 
and is still pursuing the whole people of the Soul q? Nor 
was Mr. Greeley's reiterated advice the result of 
honest error. No man understood better than he did 
the use that would be made of his declarations and how 
effective they would be in promoting disunion " 

Who can doubt this portraiture? Gen. Biair is a 
bold man, ana, I believe, un honest and frank 
man. When he quarreled with toe Republican 
party, he aid not n^ng upon its skirts ui dtr the 
guise of Liberal Republican, and stab it in the 
back in tne bouse of its fiiends but lie went over 
at once to the only other p»Hy rernaii ing. What 
astonishes me is.tbathe can to-day support Gree- 
ley in the face of this lecoid 

Now, my friends, I have given you Greeley's 
record, writien by himself, at d I have given its 
influence upon rebellion, as r.rawn by one of his 
friends. Irtbis war settled anything, it settled 
this one doctrine of the rignt of a Slate to secede 
And yet we are struggling again before the people 
to prevent the election as Chief Magistrate of die 
man of all other:- in th > North most responsible for 
the rebellion, if Gen. Blair is right. 

Say what you will; treat the idea derisively if 
you may; but we have in this campaign tie doc 
trine of secession as an issue. If Mr Greeley js 
elected, and a House of Repreaeutives m harmony 
with him, I do not say we shall have secession, but 
I do say it would be oossible. 

Suppose Georgia or Texas should, bvaf ir ex- 
pression of tre people, vote in favor of withdraw- 
ing from the Union, would Mr. Gieeley keep them 
in by force ? Would his House of Representatives 
vote supplies to carry on a w ar to coerce them ? I 
hope so; but is it not better to try no experiments 
at this time ? 

Now, my friends, let us turn from this dark and 
forbidding picture, ar.d contrast with it the record 
and views of Gen. Grant, 

You will pardon me, I know, if I read vou an 
extract from a letter wiitten by Gen Grant to his 
father, while be was a cadet at West Point He 
was then seyenteen. Let us see how the twig was 
bent and how the tree mciired. He says: 

"I am rendered serious by the impressions that 
crowd upon me here at W est Point. My thoughts are 
frequently occupied wiih the hatied I am made to feel 
toward traitors to my country as I look around me en 
the memorials that remain of the black-hearted trea- 
son of An old. I am lull if aconviciion of scorn and 
contempt, which my youu;; and inexperienced pen is 
unable to write in ttis letter, toward the conduct of 
any man who, at any time, could strike at the lioerties 
of such a nation as tliij; if, like Arnold, thev sboulc 
secretly seek to sell our national inheritance for the 
messof potage of wealth or po^er, or section— West 
Point sternly reminds ire what you, mv father, would 
have your son do. As I stand hero in this National 
Fort, a student of nuns uoder our country's flag, I 
know full well how you would have me act in such an 



word; and again, when treason stalked abroad in 
the land, the fire of his West Point youth came 
backtobim. He modestly tendered his service 
and commenced as a recruiting officer. Toe fire 
of crenius soon kir.dbd within him, he was given 
a romn and, and victoiv after victory added fresh 
Ifcuieis t5 hie valor and great ability. 

Let me read \ou a brief synopsis of his career, 
as given by Horace Greeley : 

"From the beginning to the end of that struggle, 
Ulysses S. Grant rose through every grade known to 
our service. A poor, obscure, friendless private citi- 
zen, he volunteered at tho outset, and was chosen Cap- 
tain of a company He was soon made Adjutant, then 
Colonel, then Krigadier-Geueral then Major-General, 
tben Lieutentant General; finally General -in-i hief. 
Y( t nobody ever heu-d of his asking for a better post. 
In every case of his promotion he took the positijn 
wherein he was wanted— noone ev r heard of his want- 
ing a netter one than he already hac. 'Friend, come 
up higher .' was the mandate addressed t :> this lowtv 
servant of the Republic— not that he wanted promo- 
tion, but that the ctsiunti y sore'y needer tho right man 
in the right, place. He favored no 'po'icy' hut the 
crushing out of the rebellion. He had uo conception 
of dutv that led him to legard the Federil Executive 
with distrust or disfavor. In short. Grant quietly re- 
ceived his orders, and to the extent of i is ability, exe- 
cuted them. It will be the fault of the pet pie if this 
species of generalship is not more common hereafter." 
— [Trioune, July22d, 1868. 

Cadet Grant's letter was prophetic. The time 
came when he was to strike a. blow for the solva- 
tion of his country. The time came when the pa- 
triotic instructions of bis father were to be put to 
the test. He acted promptly ; and Mstory has al- 
ready aecoraed to bim the first place among the 
army of patiiots who preserved the country from 
overthrow With no personal hatred of individu- 
als engaged in rebellion, but only hatred of trea- 
son, his conouct at the b- ginning, duriig and 
sijce tbe war, has been id such marked cocirastto 
the ear y disloyalty of Horace (Vreeley and bis 
subsequent supercilious and brutal course to- 
wards not only rebe.bou hue individual rebels, 
tbitc ;ihey stand out as distinct typt.8— a Hyperion 
to Satyr. 

Can there be any hesitation as to which of these 
two men can be most safely trusted as loyalists? 

GRANT OR GREELEY AS FINANCIERS. 

Mr. Greeley makes great pretensions as a finan- 
cial adviser. Gereral tiraur. upon this subject 
makes uo pretensions beyond results he reaches 
by applying the strong common sense with which 
he in gitttd to the experience of the coumry and 
the facts he can gather from the beet sources. 
Mr. Greeley notoriously advises with no one. He 
is rtogmat'cal and dictatorial on tnis as on all other 
subjects. You know some of hia vagaries on tbe 
question cf national currency. Perhaps we may 
profitably recall some of his views. 

GBEENBACKS. 

He first opposed the legal- tender act, as be had 
opposed the war, aid after Weirds was as violently 
iu favor of the act as he was in favor of slaugb- 
tentg rebels without mercy Let me not do him 
i' justice. On the 10th of February, 1S62, he 
Baid : 

"We shiver on the brink of a bottomless abyss 
of shinplaster circulation. Contrtes must pro- 
vide funds for the vigorous and immediate prose- 
cution of tbe war for the Union. a> d it seems we 
must take the short and easy method of making 
Treasury t otea a legal tender. We utterly dissent 
Trom this conclusion" 



On Februaty 19, 1864, he said: 
"When we hear it said lhat the government 
ought, to have maintained , orougb , now to/esume, 
sptcie payments, we know that the spi aker means 
we ought to give up the contest and let, the rebels 
ti in iu ph. " 

Witu the vast issue of l?gai-tender Dotes busi- 
ness expanded, priee« advai ced. and purchases 
w^nM n DCy ' i ?i y fut , ur . e conduct in such an hour were made at. double and treble their fora er value ; 



would prLve worthy the. patriotic instruction yon have 
given. ' ' 

Here was tbe heart of an American youth glow- 
ing with patriotism, and imbibing lessons that 
were to serve him at an unexpected time. The 
boy was father to the man. When war was de- 
clared with Mexico, Lieut. Grant maae good his 



a 'irai'ed amour t of go;d was he'd it. the Trt-aeury, 
aDd every business man saw that sudden resump- 
tion of specie pa^ ments and redemption of ureen • 
b.-<cks would inevitably runi the countrv and pros- 
trate business; and yet at the very time when this 
condition of thmas was most critical Mr. Gretley 
cume out with his famous idea of 



8 



EESTTMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENT, 

and demanded that "the way to resume is to re- 
sume," and he has keot up the cry to this day. 
At that time gold was worth a large premium , and 
we hadn't gold enough in the whole country to 
have redeemed the greenbacks in Wall street 
alone. 

IMMEDIATE PAYMENT OF THE DEBT; INCOME 
TAX. 

On June 5, 1867, he said : 

' ' We believe in taxing so as to pay the debt in ten 
years To do this the national revenue should be 
$500,000,000 per annum, or the same as iD 18C6 
Here, for example, are a good many thousands of 
our people wro have incomes from $10,009 to 
$1,000,000 per annum. Suppose these tcere to pay ten 
per cent income tax. What of it?' • &c. 

In June, 1803. he said: "One of the fairest and 
most productive sources of British revenue is the 
income tax," &c , and he urges it as necessary 
and right. December 10, 1769, he said : "We do 
not believe there is a tax levied by the government 
so onerous upon so large a class of people as the 
income tax. It is not equal; its exactions are un- 
just, and it discriminates against persons of lirrited 
means." Again, .June 26, he say.- : "The income 
tax is one of the -vorst ever levied, ' ' &c. 

GOLD GAMBLING. 

Mr. Greeley also undertook to regulate gold 
gambling He came to Wa-hington and urgea the 
passage of what was known as the ' 'Greeley Gold 
Law," which was approved Jure 1 7, 1864. On 
the 18th of June, 1864, gold sold at 195, and it rose 
steaduv until, on the twenty ninih of the same 
month, it reached 250, and it became necessary to 
abolish the law, which was done by act appiovea 
July 2, 1864. 

Now, my friends, I do not quarrel with a man 
for making mistakes. ldoiiotfi'~d fault with a 
man for changing his opinions. But I ask you, is 
it wise to place at tte head of the nation a man 
who has been on both tioes of almost every fiu'jn 
cial question , as well as political; a man whorat-h- 
ly t^kes no theories involving sucii vital import- 
ance? Where wourt we hive been 'iurmg the 
war with Horace Greeley as Prt-eider.i? 

What butiuess man would entrust his private 
interes-ts in the hanos of this man? 

Is it not of infinitely greater importance that a 
steady man should be at the helm than one filled 
with the wil lest vagaries and hobbies on ever* 
subject? 

Do we need a man of impetuous judgment, of 
hasty conclusions, of brilliant, if vou please, but 
wayward anc changeful totious? 

Or do we net da m«n of strong common sense, 
of devotion to tne whole people, of calm but Qrm 
judgment, f.ee from hobbies and notions, and that 
brings as nearly as possible a judicial opinion to 
direct our public affairs? 

Take ui> Gen Grai i's messages, read them, and 
answer me whether the mind which ( tctuted them 
is not a safer one io guide us than mat one whirh 
I have described atd shown to be possessed by 
Horace Greeley. 

THE EXECUTIVE SPHERE. 

Most Presidents have gravely erred in having a 
legislative policy ; that is. a policy which they felt 
it a duty to enforce to the extent of overawing or 
cajoling Congress. This was Andrew Johnson's 
fatal m stake. On the contrary , Gea. Grant con 
ceived the true idea of tne Piesidei tial character, 
and expressed it in hie inaugural with great clear 
nees He said: "I shall on all subjects have a 
policy to recommend but cone to enforce against 
the will of the people Laws are to govern all 
alike, those opposed as well aB those wno favor 
them. I know of no method to secure the repeal 
of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their 
strii gent execution. " 

No man has ever served as President with a 
truer conception of the proper sphe-e of that high 
office than President Grant has shown. 

He was accused by Mr Sumter of usurpation 
in the San Domingo maitrr, and ibis is urged to 
day as contradicting tne view I have just exoresseo. 
of his character. .Nothing is further from the 
truth. 



SAN DOMINGO AFFAIR. 

I must not allow myself to follow all the libels 
and misrepresentation of the President. They 
have long since been exploded. Our campaign is 
an affirmative one. We are not on the defensive. 
But the matter has been treated with great gravity 
and I will notice it. 

San Domingo is one of the most fertile of the 
West Indies. It has a small population which bad 
succeeded in establishing a republic. They were un- 
willing to attempt the development of their natural 
resources alone, and therefore sent an agent to 
the United States with authority to make some 
terms of annexation to this government. The 
President mane no reply. A second agei t came 
and stated that unless they could come under 
our protection they would look to some 
European alliance. Gen. McClellan, Admiral 
Porter, and others equally distinguished, had 
previously examined the resources or the coun- 
try, and had stated strongly the aovantages of the 
island as a coaling depot, a naval station, a mili- 
tary Key to tte Gulf of Mexico, and as capable of 
producing large quantities of sugar, coffee, rice, 
dye stuffs, mahogany and other products; besides 
possessing large fields of copper, iron, gold and 
salt 

With this information, the President could not 
refuse to listen to the proposition. 

He sent a discreet commission to make t secret 
examination and report. They satisfied the Presi- 
dent, and he put a proposition into the form of a 
treaty . 

He called upon Mr, Sumner, treating htm with 
great deference, to ascertain his views and to 
know whether he would support the proposition. 
Mr- Sumntr denies that he gave toe President a 
promise of support. But there wtre two wit- 
nesses present who say he did so promise, and I 
read from the testimony of one of them , Col.- For- 
ney, a JifeJong friend and admirer of Mr Sum- 
ner: 

"I was pr> rent at Mr Sumner's residence when 
President Gran' called anri explained t,i e Dominican 
trea.y to the Senator, and although I cinnoi recal the 
exact « olds oi the latter I t.ndeistoou him to say that 
h« would most cheerfully supi ort tie treaty. At the 
President's request, I remained >o bear his exnl na- 
non, and I am free to say th*t such is my deep repaid 
for Mr. Sumnei that his indorsement of the ireaty 
went very fur to stimulate me in giving it my sup- 
port,"' 

Afterwards, from some cause, Mr. Sumner 
changed his mind ; became hostile to the President 
and secretary Fish; denounced ihem both bitterly 
and persoi ally, and more than intimated that the 
Piesidei t was euilty of venaity; ana finally in 
hi great phillippic against against the President, 
demanded bis impeachment. 

Togo oack: So much was said in criticism of 
the annexation idea that it was proposed to send 
iiiree coumissioners to investigate the wro'e mat- 
ter, Congiess finally authoiized tris Mr. Wade, 
Dr. Howe of Boston and Pre-idtnt White of Cor- 
rell University, New York, wire sent Neither of 
them was known to nave expressed an opinion one 
way or the other. 

Tne report was made, and furnishes valuable 
uat'er for the study of our people. It set at rest 
forevei ail the slanderous reports set afloat about 
jobbing, and urged the acquisition of Sau Domin- 
go upon the Senate and the country. 

lien. Grant had done his duty, and it only re- 
mained to submit the report to Congress, which 
he did in a message that will live as a monument 
to his manliness, while it wnl forever stume his 
traducers. As this if but another evidence of 
Gen. Giant's conception of the Presidential office, 
t will read you a paragraph from that message. 

"Ihe mere rejec f ion by the Senate of a treaty nego- 
tiated by the President ouly indicates a cifl'erence of 
opinion Between two co-ordinate departments of the 
government without toucl ing the character or wound- 
ing the pride of either. But when such rejection 
lakes place simultaneously with charges, openly made, 
of corruption on the part ©f the President, or those 
employed bv him, the case is different. In such case 
the hoi or of the nation demands investigation. This 
has been accomplished by the report of the ' omuiis- 
sioners herewith transmit' ed. and which tuily vintJi- 
ca es ihe purity of the motives ar ' action of those who 
represented the United States in the negotiation. And 
now my task is finished, and with it ends all personal 
solicitude upon the suoject. 



My duty being done, yours begins; and I gladly 
hand over the whole matter to the judgment of the 
American people, and of their Representatives in 
Congress assembled The facts will now be spread be- 
fore the country, and a decision rendered by that 
rrniunal whose conyictious so seldom err, and again si 
whose will I have no policy 10 enforce. " 

Thus melts away in the glare of tne truth what 
the great Liberal, Sumner, and your own Senator 
Scbuiz thought a cause for impeachment. And 
so it would be with all the charges of usurpation 
corruption, nepotism, gift taking and their 
kindred slanders, ad nauseam, if the people were 
not already tired of this "damnable iteration" by 
Liberal Democrats. In heaveo's name, let ns 
have done some time with this vile personal de- 
traction 

But, Mr Chairman, I was calling attention to 
Gen. Grant's views, as we find them in our State 
paper?, to contrast them with Mr Greeley's as 
B"l n m h's published works, when I was divert- 
ed by the San Domingo matter Now, I assert 
that you cannot find in the whole volume of ex- 
ecutive Messages those of anv President that for 
clearness and frankness of statement, for com- 
prehensiveness of the Deeds of the nation at the 
time he writes, for honesty of purpose and sin- 
cerity of motive, any that excel those of Preside nt 
Grs>nt. 

lie has spoken upon Education, The Working 
man. Agriculture, Commerce, Manufactures Tariff 
Reform, Indian Policy. Protection' to Immigrants 
1 ay men t and Refunding the National Debt Re- 
sumption of Specie Payment, Our Relations' with 
Germany, Our Foreign Policy, The Monroe Doc 
trune l lie Land Grant / olity, Amnesty ami Re 
construction Polygamy, National Postal Telegraph 
System, Civil Service Re form . The /■>, entire Policy 
and other matters 

On all these subjects he has discoursed as frankly 
as he would at his fireside upon the most ordinary 
tonic; and yet. i.i a campaign the most searching 
I nave ever witnessed, when the very sewers are 
dragged for material with which to attack him 



9 

President Grant's messages furnish no ground ©f 
assault, and are absolutely invulnerable" 

I say they show genuine statesmanship: I eav 
they prove conclusively that General Grant has 
great capacity for civil duties, and the future will 
record of his first four years as President what- 
ever it may of his second, that "he was no less 
renowned in peace than in war. ' ' 

Living, as I do, at the national capital, within a 
store s throwot the Executive Mansion ;honored as 
i have been with some personal acquaintance with 
the man, not only during the war, but since his 
residence at tne capital; seeing him frequently 
sometimes socially, sometimes officially at all 
horns of tie day and night, I declare to you that I 
never knew, in public station, a more upright man 
in his daily walk, a more unselfish, devoted and 
sincerely patriotic officer in my life— Abraham Lin- 
coln not excepted. If he nan had a base or un- 
worthy motive id any action, official or otherwise 
l have Dot discoveied it. If he has an ambition 
be\on.-.| that which guided him iu the army and 
subsequently led him to resign the high position of 
General-in-chief and accept the Presidency 1 have 
not discovered it. J " 

"Gen. Grar t is as thoroughly a citizen to-dav 
as perfect!* civilian in hie nabits, as any man in 
th°. country. We think of no one in public s\ation 
who represents more fully t e idea of the American 
gentleman. Unostentatious, unassuming brave 
without ambition, forbearing, resolute In doing 
what he deems to be right, but never offensive m 
asserting himself. Gen Grant is a man of the 
people-onein heart and feeling with the men who 
dig and idow*aud weave." 

No less a personage than Horace Greeley thus 
commended our candidate to the country in 1869 
and as anch a man to-day I commend him to you 
for the Presidency J 

"I venture to suggest that Gen. Grant will be far 
better qualified for that momentous trust in 187" 
than he was iu 1868." Thus spoke the sage of 
Chappaqua in 1871. and thus I say to you 



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